Air quality in different Local Climates Zones of Brindisi, Italy. The impact of green infrastructure

PICONE, NATASHA

MUrCS Proceedings 2023

LAB University of Applied Sciences

Lugar: Lahti; Año: 2024; p. 342 - 355

comprise more than half the world’s population, and most are exposed to poor air quality. To improve it different approaches can be implemented: direct (tackling the source) or complementaryones (reducing the population’s exposure, like GI). This article will center the analysis in Brindisi (Italy), an intermediate city with poor air quality related to NO2. The objective is to “assess how different green infrastructures impact the urban air quality (NOx) in different Local Climate Zones of Brindisi, Italy”.The methodology consists in GI intervention selection based on the literature, Local Climate Zone (LCZ) maps for Brindisi generated using the GIS methodology, and then two sites were selected (LCZ2 and LCZ6). Simulations in ENVI-MET were run to get the effects of the GI interventions on air quality and thermal comfort. Finally, the evaluation of the results was done in ArcGIS-Pro.The LCZ maps showed that the main zones are LCZ2 and LCZ6. Concerning the effects of GI intervention, the results showed that combining aspect ratio, vegetation characteristics, and localmeteorology can change the results. It has a better effect with green walls for high aspect ratios, though more discussion about the typology of streets should be addressed. At the same time, trees and hedges generate improvements with low aspect ratios.