Air pollution in the locality of buildings

Abstract

Concentrations of air pollutants at any point in a city are due to contributions from ( a ) the background level of the inflowing 'rural’ air, ( b ) the 'overall’ urban pollution, and ( c ) the sources ‘local’ to the point in question. The influence of buildings on the over-all pollution levels is effected through the heat island phenomenon and the geometry and temporal variation of the mixing layer into which the contaminants are dispersing. The enhancement of downwind dispersion of pollutants from local sources upwind is appreciated, but more studies are needed to quantify all factors involved. Wind-tunnel investigations have been demonstrated to be valuable in providing quantitative estimates of the distribution of gas concentrations in the flow field around a building complex.