Establishing an air quality index based on proxy data for urban planning: Finalization, validation and application to...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Urban Planning
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

• Urban planning requires integrating air quality considerations, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 11.
• Current air quality assessment tools for urban development are often complex or rely on post-construction data.
• A need exists for accessible, preemptive tools to evaluate land use planning's air quality impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To finalize, validate, and apply a spatially explicit air quality index using proxy data.
• To develop a low-cost, decision-support tool for municipalities regarding air quality and land use.
• To provide preemptive insights into the air quality consequences of urban development.

Main Methods:

• Development of a spatially explicit index aggregating topography, roads, buildings, vegetation, and external sources on a 300m grid.
• Normalization of five parameters into a single annual score from 0 (excellent) to 5 (very poor).
• Calibration of index thresholds using a novel reference value (RV) combining BelAQI and total VOC concentrations via regression and percentile optimization.

Main Results:

• Validation on eight monitoring sites showed a 75% agreement rate with the RV classification.
• Application to Seraing, Belgium, indicated a slight decrease in structural air quality pressure over two decades.
• Despite urban changes, the city remained in the highest air quality impact class.

Conclusions:

• The developed index serves as a low-cost, accessible decision-support tool for municipalities.
• It offers preemptive insight into air quality impacts of land use planning, complementing traditional metrics.
• The index has strong potential for adaptation and future refinement in urban environmental management.