Article
Rates of Urbanisation and the Resiliency of Air and Water Quality
Science of The Total Environment
(2008)
Abstract
Global human population and urban development are increasing at unprecedented rates and creating tremendous stress on local, regional, and global air and water quality. However, little is known about how urban areas vary in their capacity to address effectively air and water quality impacts associated to urban development. There exists a need to better understanding the factors that mediate the interactions between urbanisation and variations of environmental quality. By synthesizing literatures on the relationship between urban development and air and water quality, we assess the amount of scholarship for each of these cities, characterize population growth rates in one hundred of the largest global cities, and link growth trends to changes in air and water quality. Our results suggest that, while there is a growing literature linking urbanisation and environmental quality, some regions of the globe are better represented than others, and that these trends are consistent with our characterization of population growth rates. In addition, the comparison between population growth rates and air and water quality suggest that multiple factors affect the environmental quality, and that approaching rates of urbanisation through the lens of ‘resiliency’ can be an effective integrative concept for studying the capacity of urban areas to respond to rapid rates of change. Based on these results we offer a framework for systematically assessing changes in air and water quality in megacities.
Keywords
- Air quality,
- Water quality,
- Megacities
Disciplines
Publication Date
August, 2008
Citation Information
Vivek Shandas, Jiunn-Der Duh, Heejun Chang and Linda A. George. "Rates of Urbanisation and the Resiliency of Air and Water Quality" Science of The Total Environment Vol. 400 Iss. 1-3 (2008) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/linda_george/10/