Evaluating the effect of compact urban form on air quality in Korea

Air quality is affected by the interplay between emission sources and urban planning factors such as land use, built environment, development pattern, and transportation. Few empirical studies have been conducted to determine the influence of urban form characteristics on air quality in Korea. Thus, the purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between urban form and air pollution, focusing on ozone pollution in Korea. The characteristics of urban form include density, concentration, clustering, and land use mix. In this study, those characteristics were measured by population density, the Theil index, Moran’s I index, G-statistic values, and an entropy index using statistical methods and a geographic information system. We employed a spatial regression model to consider the spatial effects of ozone concentrations. We found that the degree of urban land use mix, clustering, and concentration of development are significantly associated with better air quality by using a spatial lag model, which was found to be the best fit for the data used in this study. However, an increase in population density was found to be associated with exacerbated ozone concentrations. Communities with higher daily temperatures, a large number of cars, and polluting facilities exhibited poor air quality, while those with a larger percentage of residential land use tended to have lower ozone pollution. These findings suggest that, to properly address concerns over air quality, mixed-land use and compact urban form need to be more seriously considered in sustainable urban planning.