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Study Reveals Disparities in Air Pollution Exposure in the Bronx

A recent study co-authored by scholars from MIT highlights significant variations in air pollution exposure among individuals, emphasizing the importance of daily mobility in understanding these disparities.

Conducted in the Bronx, New York, this research diverges from conventional methods that typically estimate exposure based solely on residential or workplace locations. By utilizing mobile data, the study offers a nuanced examination of individuals’ daily travel patterns, yielding a more detailed assessment of how their environment impacts health.

Results indicate that exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) increases by approximately 2.4% when considering daily mobility.

“A key advantage of our study is the enhancement of data quality we achieve both in terms of air quality assessment and through detailed tracking of people’s movement,” explains Paolo Santi, a principal research scientist at MIT’s Senseable City Lab and co-author of the paper detailing these findings. “This approach enables us to construct movement trajectories, allowing for a novel way to measure exposure.”

The complexity of pollution exposure emerges from various factors, including residential proximity to polluters, workplaces, and travel routes. “People navigate the city for various reasons like work and education, and examining these activities grants us more precise exposure data,” adds An Wang from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, another collaborator on the study.

The findings are documented in the paper titled “Big mobility data reveals hyperlocal air pollution exposure disparities,” published in Nature Cities.

The authors of the study comprise specialists from various institutions, including Iacopo Testi and Simone Mora from MIT, Erica Walker from Brown University, Marguerite Nyhan from University College Cork, and others.

To gather data, researchers equipped New York City civic service vehicles with solar-powered environmental sensors, including optical particle counters, temperature, and humidity sensors, along with GPS technology. This innovative strategy utilizes existing municipal vehicles as mobile environmental sensors, as noted by co-author Mora.

By analyzing anonymized phone records from approximately 500,000 individuals, along with 500 million daily location points, the researchers gauged pollution exposure throughout the Bronx over time. The data revealed that areas in the southeastern Bronx, characterized by heavy traffic and industrial activity, displayed the highest levels of particulate matter.

The study also uncovered demographic disparities in exposure to air pollution, with income inequalities present but more pronounced disparities based on ethnicity. Further, some predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods experienced some of the highest pollution exposure. Interestingly, significant variations were identified within these communities as well.

Health implications stemming from pollution exposure are substantial. The Bronx is known for its poor air quality, with asthma rates among residents 2.5 times higher compared to other boroughs of New York City. “The impact of pollution exposure is evident in the hospitalizations of adults in the Bronx,” remarks Fábio Duarte, another co-author.

While the study was conducted in the fall of 2021, a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was still influencing mobility patterns, the researchers believe their methodology can inform further investigations into pollution exposure trends over time.

Ratti highlights the potential of mobile data and vehicle-mounted sensors to create a comprehensive air quality monitoring network. “The infrastructure is already in place; by equipping vehicles with sensors, we can significantly enhance air quality tracking at a relatively low cost,” he asserts.

Wang further emphasizes that this granular approach can be expanded to include a broader array of air-quality hazards beyond PM2.5 particles, fostering new avenues of research in toxicity studies and exposure analysis.

More information: “Big mobility data reveals hyperlocal air pollution exposure disparities,” Nature Cities (2024).

Source
phys.org