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20 October 1998 |
Ref 98/244 |
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Air quality for people living in Australia's major cities
could be improved by more than 50 per cent.
According to a report by CSIRO scientists presented today (Tuesday)
at the 1998 Clean Air and Environment Conference in Melbourne,
careful urban planning can cause dramatic improvement in air
quality.
The best pattern for expansion in order to reduce exposure to
air pollution is a city in which growth occurs along corridors
radiating from the central business district, supported by improved
public transport.
"Developing cities along corridors can lower people's exposure
to photochemical smog by over 50 percent. In addition, our exposure
to fine particles associated with haze and ill health would drop
by about 15 per cent," says Dr Peter Manins, who presented
the research on behalf of CSIRO Atmospheric Research, and CSIRO
Building, Construction and Engineering.
Dr Manins and CSIRO's Dr Peter Newton, who coordinated the project,
have calculated how different city forms would influence individuals'
exposure to air pollution in the year 2011 with an increase in
population of 500,000, compared with a base year of 1991.
"When it comes to greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide,
a shift to a compact city with increased inner suburban density
would produce a reduction in emissions of about 40 per cent,"
says Dr Manins.
The compact city is also far more efficient for fuel use, which
is likely to be more than 40 per cent less than it would be under
an extension of current city design.
"If we simply continue with current patterns of urban growth,
we can expect that exposure to photochemical smog will worsen
by more than 70 per cent and exposure to particle pollution will
rise by more than 60 per cent," Dr Newton warns.
"Our main finding is that if we don't properly plan our
cities, we will condemn population and industry to a less ideal
living and working environment in future," says Dr Newton.
CSIRO examined six alternative city forms to assess the impact
of each on future air quality. The city forms included: business-as-usual,
an extension of current development practices; an 'edge city'
with growth at selected nodes; growth in regional centres within
a hundred kilometres of the CBD that are linked by high speed
trains; a compact city; a corridor city; and a 'fringe' city,
with growth predominantly on the outskirts.
The full report on which this paper is based, entitled Re-Shaping
Cities for a Sustainable Future, is available from CSIRO or the
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute in Melbourne.
The six different city forms considered in the CSIRO study
For more information please contact:
Dr Peter Manins, 03 9239 4630 (W); Mildura mobile 03 9589 2072
(H);
E-mail: peter.manins@dar.csiro.au;
Dr Peter Newton, 03 9252 6126, 0418 332 016
E-mail: peter.newton@mel.dbce.csiro.au
Paul Holper, 03 9239 4661 (W); 0419 894 427 (mobile); 03 9583
9903 (H);
E-mail: paul.holper@dar.csiro.au
Justine Leadbetter, 03 9252 6172, 0419 106 419,
E-mail: justine.leadbetter@dbce.csiro.au
Accredited media representatives are welcome to attend all sessions of the conference, which is being held from Monday 19 October to Wednesday 21 October at the Melbourne Hilton on the Park, 192 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne.
(Australia's largest scientific research organisation)
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