The present study aims at exploring whether aspects of urban form (compactness ratio and elongation ratio) are associated with urban smog (particulate matter) in China. Quantitative indicators relating to urban form and urban smog were selected and quantified for 30 Chinese cities, for the reference years 2000, 2007, and 2010, by using a combination of compiled statistical data, remote sensing, and geographical information system data. Panel data analysis was used to evaluate the degree of association between measures of urban form and urban smog, while controlling for urban population, built-up area green coverage rate, power consumption, SO2 emissions, gross value of industrial output, gross industrial output, and buses per capita. The results indicate that urban compactness and urban elongation were positively correlated to urban particulate matter. It is therefore recommended to consider the implication of urban form on smog as part of urban planning and as part of ongoing strategies to mitigate the deleterious consequences of air pollution.
BereitschaftBDebbageBBK (2013) Urban form, air pollution, and CO2 emissions in large U.S. metropolitan areas. The Professional Geographer65(4): 612–635.
2.
BorregoCMartinsHTchepelO (2006) How urban structure can affect city sustainability from an air quality perspective. Environmental Modelling & Software21(4): 461–467.
3.
Boubel RW (1994) Fundamentals of air pollution. 3rd ed. New York: Academic Press, pp. 72–96.
4.
BurtonE (2002) Measuring urban compactness in UK towns and cities. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design29: 219–250.
5.
ChanCKYaoX (2008) Air pollution in mega cities in China. Atmospheric Environment42(1): 1–42.
6.
China State Statistical Bureau (2006) Zhongguo tongji nianjian (China Statistical Yearbook), Beijing: China Statistical Press, pp. 459.
7.
De RidderKLefebreFAdriaensenS (2008) Simulating the impact of urban sprawl on air quality and population exposure in the German Ruhr area. Part II: Development and evaluation of an urban growth scenario. Atmospheric Environment42(30): 7070–7077.
8.
EwingRPendallRChenD (2003) Measuring sprawl and its transportation impacts. Transportation Research Record1831: 175–183.
9.
GuptaPPatadiaFChristopherSA (2008) Multisensor data product fusion for aerosol research. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing46(5): 1407–1415.
10.
HaggettP (1997) Locational Analysis in Human Geography, London: Edward Arnold Ltd., pp. 309.
11.
HaoJQCaoMMWangYL (2013) Research on the effect and space evolvement of industrial aggregation in urban aggregation. Journal of Human Geography28(3): 96–100.
12.
HausmanJ (1978) Specification tests in econometrics. Econometrica6: 1251–1272.
13.
HeCD (2007) Research on the mechanism of China and USA suburbanization. Journal of Chinese Land Resource9: 32–34.
14.
HeKHuoHZhangQ (2002) Urban air pollution in China: Current status, characteristics, and progress. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment27(1): 397–431.
15.
HeQLiCGengF (2012) Study on long-term aerosol distribution over the land of East China using MODIS Data. Aerosol and Air Quality Research12(3): 304–319.
16.
HsiaoC (2003) Analysis of Panel Data, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
17.
HuangJLuNSellersJM (2007) A global comparative analysis of urban form: Applying spatial metrics and remote sensing. Landscape and Urban Planning82: 184–197.
18.
KibbleAHarrisonR (2005) Point sources of air pollution. Occupational Medicine55: 425–431.
19.
LaiLChengW (2009) Air quality influenced by urban heat island synoptic weather patterns. Science of the Total Environment407: 2724–2733.
LiBGRanYTaoP (2008) Research on the distribution rule of aerosol and time change in Beijing. Journal of Environmental Science28(7): 1425–1429.
22.
LiXFZhangMJWangSJ (2012) Analysis on variation and influencing factors of air pollution index in China. Journal of Environment Science33(6): 1936–1943.
23.
LianF (2011) Econometrics research on the industrial aggregation and productivity of labor. Journal of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law1: 108–114.
24.
LinGCS (2007) Reproducing spaces of Chinese urbanization: New city-based and-centered urban transformation. Urban Studies44(9): 1827–1855.
25.
LiuYCuiSH (2011) Study on the relationship between governmental subsidy and corporate recycle ability: A system dynamics approach. Ecological Economy6: 92–95.
26.
LiuYSongYArpHP (2012) Examination of the relationship between urban form and urban eco-efficiency in China. Habitat International36(1): 171–177.
27.
McMillanTE (2007) The relative influence of urban form on a child’s travel mode to school. Transportation Research Part A41: 69–79.
28.
MainardiS (2005) Earnings and work accident risk: A panel data analysis on mining. Resources Policy30: 156–167.
29.
Manins PC, Cope ME, Hurley PJ, et al. (1998) The impact of urban development on air quality and energy use. In: Proc. 14th international clean air & environment conference (ed 22), Melbourne, Australia, October 1998. Clean air and environmental quality, Vol. 32, pp. 331–336.
30.
MarquezLOSmithNC (1999) A framework for linking urban form and air quality. Environmental Modelling & Software14(6): 541–548.
31.
MartinsH (2012) Urban compaction or dispersion? An air quality modeling study. Atmospheric Environment54: 60–72.
32.
MikhedVZemcikP (2009) Do house prices reflect fundamentals? Aggregate and panel data evidence. Journal of Housing Economics18: 140–149.
33.
NewmanPKenworthyJ (1989) Cities and Automobile Dependence, Aldershot: Gower.
34.
PeduzziPConcatoJKemperE (1996) A simulation study of the number of events per variable in logistic regression analysis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology49(12): 1373–1379.
35.
QureshiIALuH (2007) Urban transport and sustainable transport strategies: A case study of Karachi, Pakistan. Tsinghua Science & Technology12(3): 309–317.
36.
Rudlin D and Falk N (1999) Building the 21st century home, the sustainable urban neighborhood. Oxford: Architectural Press.
37.
RydellCPSchwarzG (1968) Air pollution and urban form: A review of current literature. Journal of the American Institute of Planners34(2): 115–120.
38.
SchindlerMCarusoG (2014) Urban compactness and the trade-off between air pollution emission and exposure: Lessons from a spatially explicit theoretical model. Computers Environment and Urban Systems45(2): 13–23.
39.
SchwarzN (2010) Urban form revisited selecting indicators for characterizing European cities. Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning96: 29–47.
40.
Scott T (2013) Prodding China to confront its urban air pollution problems, by The Partnership for Public Service. The Washington Post, 22 October, 2.
41.
SeinfeldJHPandisSN (2012) Atmospheric chemistry and physics: From air pollution to climate change, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
42.
SenlinLLongyiSMinghongW (2007) Chemical elements and their source apportionment of PM10 in Beijing urban atmosphere. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment133(1–3): 79–85.
43.
SongCKHoCHParkRJ (2009) Spatial and seasonal variations of surface PM10 concentration and MODIS aerosol optical depth over China. Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences45(1): 33–43.
44.
SongY (2005) Impacts of urban growth management on urban form: A comparative study of Portland, Oregon, Orange County, Florida and Montgomery County, Maryland. National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education University of Maryland Stoddart, D.R. 1965. The shape of atolls. Marine Geology3: 369–383.
45.
SteyerbergEWEijkemansMJHabbemaJD (1999) Stepwise selection in small data sets: A simulation study of bias in logistic regression analysis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology52(10): 935–942.
46.
StoneB (2008) Urban sprawl and air quality in large US cities. Journal of Environmental Management86(4): 688–698.
47.
ThinhNXArltGHeberB (2002) Evaluation of urban land-use structures with a view to sustainable development. Environmental Impact Assessment Review22(5): 475–492.
VittinghoffEMcCullochC (2007) Relaxing the rule of ten events per variable in logistic and cox regression. American Journal of Epidemiology165(6): 710–718.
50.
WaiKMTannerPA (2005a) Relationship between ionic composition in PM10 and the synoptic-scale and mesoscale weather conditions in a south China coastal city: A 4-year study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (1984–2012)110(D18): 1–13.
51.
WaiKMTannerPA (2005b) Extreme particulate levels at a western pacific coastal city: The influence of meteorological factors and the contribution of long-range transport. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry50(2): 103–120.
52.
WangJLZhangYHShaoM (2006) Quantitative relationship between visibility and mass concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing. Journal of Environmental Sciences18(3): 475–481.
53.
WentzEA (2000) A shape definition for geographic applications based on edge, elongation, and perforation. Geographical Analysis32(2): 95–112.
54.
William PL (1967) The climate of cities. Scientific American CCXVII(August): 115–123.
55.
XieJX (2014) Study on Influence Factors of Haze Weather Based on Data Mining, China: University of Electronic Science and Technology, pp. 23–25.
56.
YuJYangZWXiongH (2013) Comparative study of active and passive urbanization. Journal of Urban Observation23: 142–149.
57.
Zhang C (2014) Research on the Chinese urban form’s impact on haze and evolution rules. In: Proceedings of Chinese city planning conference. Beijing: China Building Industry Press.
58.
ZhangGRGuCL (2006) Research on the passive urbanization of rapid urbanization in China. Journal of Urban Planning5: 48–54.
59.
ZhangRJingJTaoJ (2013) Chemical characterization and source apportionment of PM2.5 in Beijing: Seasonal perspective. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics13: 7053–7074.
60.
ZhaoPSDongFHeD (2013) Characteristics of concentrations and chemical compositions for PM2.5 in the region of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, China. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics13(9): 4631–4644.
61.
ZhouMYZhuMYYeZJ (1983) The distribution rule of aerosol concentration and its relation with the synoptic pattern over Beijing city in late autumn. Journal of Science Atmospherica7(4): 450–455.
