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Urban air quality in mega cities: A case study of Delhi City using vulnerability analysis

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Abstract

Air pollution is one of the major environmental problems in India, affecting health of thousands of ‘urban’ residents residing in mega cities. The need of the day is to evolve an ‘effective’ and ‘efficient’ air quality management plan (AQMP) encompassing the essential ‘key players’ and ‘stakeholders.’ This paper describes the formulation of an AQMP for mega cities like Delhi in India taking into account the aforementioned key ‘inputs.’ The AQMP formulation methodology is based on past studies of Longhurst et al., (Atmospheric Environment, 30, 3975–3985, 1996); Longhurst & Elsom, ((1997). Air Pollution-II, Vol. 2 (pp. 525–532)) and Beatti et al., (Atmospheric Environment, 35, 1479–1490, 2001). Further, the vulnerability analysis (VA) has been carried out to evaluate the stresses due to air pollution in the study area. The VA has given the vulnerability index (VI) of ‘medium to high’ and ‘low’ at urban roadways/intersections and residential areas, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Scholar, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Suresh Jain

  2. Atlantic LNG Chair Professor in Environmental Engineering, University of West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Mukesh Khare

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  1. Suresh Jain
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  2. Mukesh Khare
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Correspondence to Mukesh Khare.

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Jain, S., Khare, M. Urban air quality in mega cities: A case study of Delhi City using vulnerability analysis. Environ Monit Assess 136, 257–265 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-007-9681-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-007-9681-7

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