Appraising the influence of landscape design on traffic generated air pollution of urban parks

Abstract

Urban parks are predominant constituents of an urban design which contributes to enhance the quality of life of city dwellers. Location of an urban park is an important design decision and the Public Outdoor Recreational Space (PORS) standard of Sri Lanka prioritizes the criterion of easy accessibility of park users. As the air pollution levels exaggerates in localities closer to major traffic routes it’s vital to appraise the concentration of airborne pollutant levels in roadside parks. This study experimentally investigated roadside park of Independence Square (ISP) and the Water’s edge (WEP). Onsite field investigation was performed on a typical weekday and weekend of each park. Traffic induced air pollution levels are interpreted with the ultrafine particle number (PNC) concentration levels amalgamated with the outdoor microclimatic thermal parameters. Results explicitly confirm air pollution levels inside the parks are lower than the roadside. Mean PNC of the core of ISP is 93.4% lesser than the corresponding road. Mean PNC of the core of WEP is 83% lesser than the roadside. Reduction of pollution inside the park is inversely related to Crown volume coverage of trees. Impact of pollution levels on distance from the road closely follows the roadside pollution levels and the distance of high pollution zone is different in both parks. Thus the findings of this study informs far reaching landscape design implications in composition and layouts to promote less polluted roadside urban parks in developing cities of tropics. Roadside Parks.