Restructuring Metropolitan Areas for Air Pollution Control: A Report

This report investigates the issue of air pollution in large metropolitan areas, specifically focusing on the UK. It begins by defining air pollution, outlining its causes such as burning fossil fuels, industrial emissions, and transportation, and detailing its detrimental impacts on human health and the environment. The report then explores various measures to control air pollution, including political norms, technological advancements, and urban restructuring. It also provides an overview of the associations and initiatives working to mitigate air pollution. The report concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to reduce air pollution and improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas, taking into consideration specific cities like London, Manchester, and Kensington.

How can large metropolitan areas be reformed
or restructured to help control increasing rates
of air pollution?

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Meaning of air pollution.........................................................................................................1
Causes of air pollution............................................................................................................2
Impact of air pollution............................................................................................................3
Associations working to deal with air pollution and taking corrective actions......................8
Measures to control air pollution............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Air is the gaseous substance which is present all around the earth. There are many gases
which get mixed in air such as oxygen, nitrogen, etc. Air pollution is the issue in which there is
presence of pollutants in air which are harmful living being for inhaling. Air pollution means
presence of toxic elements in air which usually is not present in environment but affects quality
of air in negative way (Seinfeld and Pandis, 2012). There are many issues which may arise and
can affects health of individual such as acid rain, ozone depletion, etc. Air pollution is a serious
problem these days which affects working of society and people residing there. In this report,
there is discussion about restructuring of metropolitan areas of UK, so there is less hamper to
environment and people residing in society. In this report, different intrametropolitan areas such
as London, etc. are considered. There is discussion about measures through which possibilities of
air pollution can be reduced.
MAIN BODY
Pollution is very common term which is used these days because there is different types
of pollution which affects living beings such as human beings, birds, animals, etc. Hence it is
important to take measures through which it can be rectified according to external environment.
Meaning of air pollution
It refers to the contamination of air. There are some physical, biological reasons which
affects air flowing in environment. Air pollution is reason of harmful gases, dust, smoke enters in
environment and then it create a problem for living beings in inhaling. Air pollution happens in
two form i.e. visible and invisible air pollution example. There is imbalance between increase
and decrease of harmful substance. Air consist of mainly nitrogen and oxygen with volume of
approx 78% and 21% respectively. In this 1% is other kind of gases such as carbon dioxide,
methane, hydrogen, helium, etc. These gases mix with other harmful substances which affects
health in negative manner (Leighton, 2012). Air pollution is one of the adversely affected
element because living beings inhale air which is present in environment.
Air pollution is one of the major issue which is faced by metropolitan cities. It is
important to deal with it because pollution has negative impact on animal, plants, etc. in most
harmful manner. Air pollution is increasing day by day because of increment in human activities
such as deforestation, excess use of fuel, smoking, etc. This is the biggest threat for crops,
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animals, children, old age people, etc. There is no positive results because of air pollution, so it is
important to deal with it and make strategies with which it is easy to deal. Air pollution is the
major reason which affects on environment, living being, etc. it is important to deal with them
so that environment of society can be maintained. Cities facing such issues are London, England,
Wales, etc. because these are the cities which has great population.
Causes of air pollution
There are different reasons of air pollution such as mining, transportation,
industrialisation, fire smoke, etc. This affects at local, national and international level so it is
essential to deal with it. There are different types of air pollutants such as Sulfur Oxides,
Nitrogen Oxides, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Volatile organic Compounds, etc. in
metropolitans cities, there is much pollution due to traffic, pollution due to transportation, mining
operations, smoke from factories, burning of fossil fuel, etc. Causes of air pollution are as under-
One cause of air pollution is Burning of fossil fuel. There is use of different vehicles in
metropolitan cities such as trucks, cars, Jeeps, trains, etc. These components give pollution to
environment (Anderson, Thundiyil and Stolbach, 2012). There are some dangerous gases such as
Carbon Mono-oxide, Nitrogen oxides, etc. which affects health of animals, living beings, etc.
Due to burning of petrol, diesel and other fuel which is the major reason of pollution in
metropolitans areas of UK. There are many public transport which affects level of air pollution in
society.
UK is the country where number of tourist visit with rapid speed, so there are possibilities
of smoke, transportation pollution which is the major cause of air pollution. There are many
political norms such as polling of vehicle, restricted amount of smoke from factories, setting of
factories at far places, etc. which are formed with aim of controlling air pollution. In peak season
of tourism, there is requirement of more transportation which is the major cause of air pollution.
London is the city where there is requirement of different sources for loading of raw material to
factories, so there is use of more fossil fuels which causes air pollution. For instance: in cities
like Manchester, England, Kensisgton, etc. material and resources which are required to
manufacture articles is supplied from London due to more availability of labour and
technological advancement. To supply these entities more modes of transportation are required
which results in air pollution.
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Exhaust from factories and industries is also reason of air pollution. due to economic
reason air pollution is increasing such as due to urbanisation, deforestation, industrialisation with
aim to expansion of business, etc. affects pollution in environment. UK is one of the developed
nation which has many industries, factories, etc. that exhale many toxic gases which causes air
pollution in environment. Manufacturing units are situated in different parts of UK, so they
affects health issues to employees and other people who are residing in society. Factories,
industries are the main source of smoke which cause air pollution. There are waste exhale by
chimney of factories which is the result of air pollution. There are many people which works in
factories,and are suffering from several health issues due to air pollution such as skin disease,
asthma to them. Apart from this, there are different housing societies, schools, etc. which cause
health issues to them. Due to impure smoke from factories, smoking from nearby side, etc. gives
ill-effect to pregnant ladies. Hence factories in metropolitan cities exhale harmful gases such as
sulphur oxide, nitrogen, etc. cause air pollution which is adverse for people and other social
components such as natural vegetation, animals, plants, etc. (Smith, 2012).
In metropolitans cities, people are using more and more vehicle, which affects their
health. Smoking is also reason of air pollution which hampers health of people living in UK.
There are some ways which cause air pollution within house such as cleaning of house, painting
of wall, etc. For instance: paint is one of the reason of air pollution. There are many toxic
chemical which is present in paints that cause air pollution because it affects inhaling of family
members . While dusting at home, there are dust which cause air pollution and possibilities of
health issues to members are more. Foul smell is also the reason of air pollution within house.
This can be caused because of burning leaves in backyard, piling up of garbage, using woods and
paper as cooking fuel, indisposed cow dung, etc. In order to deal with air pollution, there are
many measures taken by engineers such planting of trees at road side, enhancing coal fired
power plants.
These are the some ways which cause major pollution in crowded areas of UK, so it is
essential to consider them to reduce possibilities of air pollution. Global warming, acid rain are
the reason of it, because of pollution, ecological cycle gets affected and this cause negative
impact on environment of society. These days rate of air pollution is increasing because of above
mentioned reason (Laumbach and Kipen, 2012).
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Impact of air pollution
Air pollution is one of the major issue with which society is dealing. It is important to
make policies to overcome them. Air pollution affects health of living being, wildlife,
environment, so it is important to take measures to over come them, so possibilities of positive
outcome are more. Air pollution has negative impact on society and other living being.
Vegetation is one of the important component in ecological cycle. It is important and significant
for deal with them in order to get positive results. There are negative impact on environment and
people living in society such as plants, living beings, wildlife, etc. some of the issues are
discussed as under :-
IMPACT ON HUMAN BEING
Air pollution is one of the major reason which affects health of people residing in society.
There are many issues which individual face because of air pollution such as Asthma,
Emphysema, lung cancer, damage of liver, kidney, etc. There are possibilities of death of
individual. With air pollution, there are numerous respiratory problems which affects health of
individual. There are many health issues such as Cancer and other respiratory problems which is
reason of direct or indirect air pollutants and toxic elements. Asthma is the main disease which
cause due to air pollution, such as dust paint smell, etc. are the reason behind it.
With inhaling pollutant air, there are possibilities of many diseases which affects health
of individual. There are many heart disease to people due to air pollution. Because of dust and
other particle individual may face problem in inhaling oxygen which gives direct impact on their
health. Cold, cough, sneezing is also result of pollutant air in environment. Around 25% death is
result of lung cancer, 17% approx because of respiratory infection, around 15% due to heart
issues, etc. so due to air pollution there are possibilities of death of human beings.
Pyramid of effect from Air Pollution
There is negative impact on health of human being because of air pollution (Zlatev,
2012). There is requirement of financial amounts as well to deal with daily issues which are
happening in day to day life. In order to under stand, there is a pyramid which shows ultimate
impact of air pollution on human being. This is discussed as under-
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(Source: Pyramid of effect from Air Pollution, 2018)
As per above diagram there are five steps which lead to death of individual because of air
pollution.
First is stage in pyramid is Sub clinical effect. In initial days, there are some changes
clinical effect on health of individual such as Impairment of lungs, respiratory problem,
disturbance in sleep, etc. This is the starting phase and most of the population is facing such
issues. Hence in pyramid, this is the stage which has largest population in millions. In UK, there
are many people who visit different places and face air pollution. Sometimes people are not
aware that they are facing such issues because of air pollution (Zhang and et. al., 2016).
Second stage is Respiratory symptoms. With increment in such issues, there are some
problems which affects health of individual so they must consult with doctor. There is expense of
doctor visit and medication. Asthma attack is one of the major issue which is faced by people
residing in metropolitan cities. Visiting doctors affects time and cost of individual. When people
do not take actions to deal with air pollution , then adverse effect on health are more. In this
stage also millions of people are suffering. This is the stage with which people take corrective
actions to deal with air pollution.
Third stage is Reduced physical performance. Due to air pollution, Lac of people face
issues in the form of educated performance at work place, office, school, etc. This is the situation
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Illustration 1: Pyramid of effect from Air Pollution

where doctor visits gets increased and results in increment in monetary expenses. As going upper
in pyramid, there is severity in effect from air pollution. For instance: individual is suffering
from Asthma then he is not able to perform operations in summers because in summers, dust and
pollution issues are more in metropolitan cities. In UK, performance of employees gets
negatively affected because of change in environment components. So doctor visits are more and
individuals are not able perform in best way. In UK, at workplace, there is facility of physician,
so due to disease because of air pollution, there are many employees who avail this facility (Feng
and Liao, 2016).
Fourth stage is Emergency room visit.. As per this stage, when people are not traking
care e of air pollution. then they have to face health issues like heart attack, blood pressure,
blood clothing, etc. and lead to visit emergency ward. These are the some risk factors which may
arise any time because of not taking care by patient from air pollution. In this stage some times,
patient does not get well and doctor prescription are important to deal with it.
Last stage is Mortality. At last stage of this pyramid, individual gets lead to death
because of carelessness. This is the last situation which can happen with individual severing
from Asthma, lungs issues, etc. Thousands of people come under morality stage.
IMPACT ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Plants and animals are part of society hence they are also suffering from air pollution.
Plants become died because of excess toxic gases. This affects environmental cycle and affects
health of living being of society. Plants and animals are also residing in society, so because of air
pollution animal also faces many health, skin issues. Sometimes due to excess pollution, animal
and plants may lead to death. There are possibilities of being livestock poisoned because of
excess use of fluorides. Being to excessive Sulfur dioxide, there is negative impact on cells of
plants which results in their death (Wang and et. al., 2014).
Fruits, vegetables, flowers gets spoiled because of polluted air. This affects natural
beauty of society in adverse way. Chlorine, ammonia, Hydrogen, smog, etc. are the reason which
affects health of plant which results in improper growth of plant.
IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
Global warming is other reason of air pollution. Global warming means there is
increment in sea level and ice gets melted with faster speed. Global warming is caused due to
deforestation, mining, industrial revolution, etc. This results in displacement of species which
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affects ecological cycle of environment. It is important for UK economy to deal with it to
provide safety to society. There are many issues which arise because of global warming such as
Ranching, Industrial farming, surface warming, use of excess fertiliser and pesticides, etc. these
all gives growth to air pollution and which directly hampers environment of society.
Acid Rain is crucial impact of air pollution. There are many pollutants in the air because
of air pollution such as Sulfur Oxide, nitrogen oxide, etc. When these pollutants mixes with rain
water and rain occurs, it is known as acid rain. Acid rain gives negative impact to living being of
society. With increment in air pollution there is negative impact on people residing in society
(Jin, Andersson and Zhang, 2016). . Due to acid rain, there are possibilities of skin disease to
people residing in society. Crops, plants, animal, and other natural vegetation gets affected
because of acid rain. This makes crop polluted and sometimes infected which affected health of
people residing in society and consuming fruits and vegetables. In London, UK there is much
pollution because of different reasons, so these pollutants mix with rain water and harms to
environment.
There is impact on natural vegetation because of air pollution. Due to toxic particles
present in environment such as carbon monoxide, nitrous and sulphur oxide, etc. atmosphere
pollutes and natural phenomenon like pollen dispersion gets effected in negative way. This is
because they need fresh air to disperse.
Depletion of Ozone layer is other impact of air pollution. Ozone layer is deteriorating
because of release of pollution such as toxic gases. Ozone is one of the reactive gas which
contains three oxygen atoms. These days due to air pollution, there is increment in ozone
depletion which affects environment in negative manner (Zhang and et. al., 2016). . Due air
pollution, earth is loosing its most important layer and this affects in entering ultraviolet rays in
earth. Ozone layer is getting depleted day by day due to which harmful UV radiations can easily
penetrate in earth's atmospheric layers. This can results in problems like skin cancer, blood
cancer, Leukemia and other severe problems.
From the above discussion it is clear that air pollution in metropolitan areas of UK affects
environment, living beings in negative way. It is important to deal with this issue to prevent
living beings as well as environment. As per survey, there is increment in air pollution because
of road side traffic, industrialisation, urbanisation, etc. in London and its emerging pollutants.
There are many policies framed by UK government to control air pollution.
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Associations working to deal with air pollution and taking corrective actions
London is the country which is one of the famous city of UK. Hence there are many
tourist which visit it for different purpose such as travelling, business purpose, meeting, official
reasons, etc. Hence this is the city which is facing pollution a very high rate (Anderson,
Thundiyil and Stolbach, 2012). There are many organisations which are working in order to deal
air pollution. Some organisation such as Health and Well Being Board (HWBB), World health
Organisation (WHO), Air Quality News, Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA),
Carbon Trust, British Heart Foundation, Environmental Transport Association, Environmental
Research Group, etc. works to deal with air pollution and taking actions to control it. Apart from
contribution of these organisations, there are some laws such as Clean Air Act 1956 which are
derived by UK government. There are some changes which has to be made in working style, so it
is easy to deal with major issue which London is facing i.e. air pollution.
 In London, there are around 11000 deaths which are occurring due to outdoor air
pollution in metropolitan areas of London. Premature deaths, blood stroke, etc. are some
issues which people are suffering, hence British heart Foundation is the organisation
which serves around £3.2 million to analyse reason of air pollution and its impact on
health of living beings residing there (McGranahan and Murray, 2012).
 HWBB is the body which take actions to analyse changes which are important and
relevant for environment. This body works to analyse geographical areas which has
more air pollution and then take actions to deal with it.
 Air Quality News works to analyse what has to be done in order to control air pollution in
London. This organisation has collaboration with different local authorities,
manufactures, etc.
 AWMA works to control air pollution and hazardous waste. This association works for
testing, taking actions emissions, monitoring of actions which helps in reducing air
pollution. Carbon trust is also an association which works to reduce amount of carbon
from industries and different business units. This helps to control pollution from
environment (Smith, 2012).
 Change London is a non profit organisation which works to provide relevant and suitable
ideas and solutions to deal with air pollution. They have motto to provide better living
environment to people residing in society. Clean Air in London is also non profit
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organisation which takes actions to clean air that is present in local areas. It is important
and significant because this is the main reason due to which people residing in society are
suffering from different problems.
 Clean Air Act was introduced in 1956 because of death due to smog. This was launched
with an objective to reduce possibilities of pollution which arise due to smoke, grit, dust,
etc. as per this act, there are some areas where it is crime to exhale smoke from chimney.
This act does not implemented in case organisation has approved fuels and fire place
channel (Naddafi and et. al., 2012). As per this act, there are different rules and
regulations which has to be followed such as there is requirement of special permission
for use of commercial furnaces which emits excess smoke, dust, etc. which is the prime
reason of air pollution. In case of Metropolitan cities of London, there is prohibition to
exhale smoke from work place within smoke control area. This helps to take actions
which helps to reduce possibilities of air pollution in environment (Haridass and et. al.,
2017).
 Client Earth is a non profit organisation established in 2008 for taking actions to protect
environment from harmed. There are different litigations which has to be followed by
organisations to deal in society by protecting it.
 Energy saving Trust is the association which has different policies related to government
household activities, government to save and consume energy for bringing positive
impact on environment.
Measures to control air pollution
From the above discussion, it is clear that there are many organisations which are taking
actions to deal with air pollution because this is one of the major issue which metropolitan areas
of UK are facing. There are some acts from engineers which assist in making changes for
controlling air pollution such as planting trees at high ways, adapting air pollution free
techniques while constructing apartments, etc. There are some techniques which is important for
restructuring and reforming of society of metropolitan area that are required to be made for
controlling air pollution. Some measures are discussed as under-
In order to reduce effect of air pollution, people residing in metropolitan areas can use
public transport instead of personal vehicles. This means they must use personal transport for
ideal reasons (Smith, 2013). For instance: employees working in metropolitan areas of London
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can carry their lunch so they need not to go back in breaks. Use of electronic and CNG transports
is also preferable in metropolitan cities. These are eco-friendly and do not give air pollution to
environment. These vehicles have to be charged and have removable battery.
Second measure is avoid smoking in public areas. Smoking is one of the important
aspects which causes air pollution in the form of Carbon Mono-oxide, Ammonia, etc. In air 70%
smoke is because of carcinogenic substances and toxic. There must be separate smoking zone in
offices and work place.
Trees have the unique ability to clean the air. So planting trees around the areas where
the pollution level is high will be beneficial for both the people and the environment. The areas
can be around the homes, roadsides as due to the movement of vehicles the pollution level
increases. It spread to other areas, and around and inside the industries where the pollution level
is high due to the waste materials released during the various processes done by companies in
manufacturing the products. So planting trees there will not only help in reducing the pollution
level but also help in improving the environment of that place (Jerrett and et. al., 2013).
People residing in metropolitan areas can avoid use of plastic bags as they release
harmful gas while decomposing them which effects the environment in a bad way. Instead,
people can make use of paper bags which are easy to decompose and also an eco-friendly way in
which people can complete their work and will also play an important role in making the
environment free from pollution.
Another way of diminishing the effect of air pollution is to use recycled products as it
requires more energy and natural resources for making new products including the air pollution.
As it is produced from those products that are made from recycled materials. It will also reduce
the effect of air pollution in metropolitan areas as the resources of these areas will be used less
because they are making new products by recycling old ones (Guderian, 2012). So the resources
will not be depleted and will contribute in removing the pollution from air.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it is clear that metropolitan cities of UK such as London is
suffering from air pollution. This issue is increasing day by day because of increasing
population and other related activities. Air pollution affects living beings of society in negative
manner such as ill effect on performance of individual. Air pollution does not only affects
individual but it also affects environment in negative manner. There are many reasons which
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cause air pollution such as emerging smoke from industries, excess traffic in metropolitan areas,
etc. In order to deal with it, there are some organisations, acts which are established by
government of UK. Clean Air Act, 1956 is the act which is established to control air pollution in
environment. There are some legal regulations which has to be considered by organisations to
deal with air pollution. At last there is discussion about some measures such as different regions
for establishment of industries to restructure metropolitan areas to reduce air pollution from
environment.
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REFERENCES
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pollution in China: achievements, challenges, and improvements. Journal of Cleaner
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Guderian, R., 2012. Air pollution: phytotoxicity of acidic gases and its significance in air
pollution control (Vol. 22). Springer Science & Business Media.
Haridass, R. and et. al., 2017. PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF POLLUTION
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Jerrett, M. and et. al., 2013. Spatial analysis of air pollution and mortality in California. American
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Jin, Y., Andersson, H. and Zhang, S., 2016. Air pollution control policies in China: A
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Laumbach, R. J. and Kipen, H. M., 2012. Respiratory health effects of air pollution: update on
biomass smoke and traffic pollution. Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 129(1).
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Leighton, P., 2012. Photochemistry of air pollution. Elsevier.
McGranahan, G. and Murray, F., 2012. Air pollution and health in rapidly developing countries.
Earthscan.
Naddafi, K. and et. al., 2012. Health impact assessment of air pollution in megacity of Tehran,
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Seinfeld, J. H. and Pandis, S. N., 2012. Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to
climate change. John Wiley & Sons.
Smith, K. R., 2013. Biofuels, air pollution, and health: a global review. Springer Science &
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Smith, W. H., 2012. Air pollution and forests: interactions between air contaminants and forest
ecosystems. Springer Science & Business Media.
Wang, S. and et. al., 2014. Effectiveness of national air pollution control policies on the air
quality in metropolitan areas of China. Journal of Environmental Sciences. 26(1). pp.13-
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Wang, S. and Hao, J., 2012. Air quality management in China: Issues, challenges, and options.
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Zhang, H. and et. al., 2016. Air pollution and control action in Beijing. Journal of Cleaner
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Zhang, Y. and et. al., 2016. Preparation of nanofibrous metal–organic framework filters for
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