2025 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 4-21
Air pollution caused by inhalable particulate matter seriously threatens public health and the sustainable development of cities. Previous studies have shown that features of the built environment are closely related to concentrations of inhalable particulate matter, but studies employing different scales and zoning methods have yielded inconsistent findings, and the impacts of possible modifiable areal unit problems (MAUP) have seldom been considered. Here, we evaluated the influence of various built environment parameters, including land use indicators and building form indicators, on air quality in the Gulou District of Nanjing, China. We used a multiple linear regression approach to analyze high-precision urban PM2.5 and PM10 concentration data collected using hand-held instruments. By controlling scale and zoning methods from the block scale of 500 meters to 3000 meters, we explored scale and zoning effects and their interactions. We found: 1) As scale increases, the number of built environment parameters that has a significant impact on pollutant concentrations decreases, and the degree of model fitting first increases before decreasing. Zoning method has a relatively small impact on the model; 2) The proportion of land area used for green space and water systems, roads, public service facilities, and municipal facilities and average building height and density are six important factors that affect changes in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations.
