The Effect of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating Air Pollution in Urban Area, Case Study Tehran-Iran

Abstract

Nowadays, population growth and rapid urbanization are two major determinants causing many environmental problems in urban ecosystem. Air pollution is one of these environmental problems which is expressed in many researches as a main problem in megacities in developing countries. Therefore, in this article, Tehran; capital of Iran as one of the mega cities facing with air pollution problem is evaluated.

During the last few decades, many researchers identify the sources of the air pollution in Tehran. Consequently, many strategies and solutions have been implemented by Tehran’s Municipality and other organizations. Unfortunately, these strategies were not effective in reducing air pollution up to now. Therefore in this paper, the concept of urban Green infrastructure is discussed as a sustainable solution for improving air pollution problems in cities. Many researches indicate that planning Green infrastructure has positive effect on the environmental problems in cities. Specially, Green infrastructure techniques have significant role on improving air quality.

Based on these data, in this article the concept of urban Green infrastructure is defined. Accordingly, the effect of the Green infrastructure on air quality of cities is discussed.  Also, this paper uses the case study of Tehran for clarifying the positive impacts of Green infrastructure on urban air pollution.

It must be noted that result of this research indicate that in the case of air pollution, Green Infrastructure offsets air pollution by directly removing pollutants from the air and reducing the high temperatures and sunlight that contributes to ozone formation. Also, it can mitigate the UHI effect in urban area and indirectly improve the quality of air in cities. In the case of Tehran air pollution, planning Green infrastructure not only can be effective in improving air quality but also it can protect public health and reduces illness-related to air pollution in urban area.