Urban Road Traffic Pollution and Its Effect on Indoor Air Quality

Indoor and outdoor concentrations of various pollutants were measured in a naturally ventilated city centre office building in order to assess the effect upon indoor pollution levels of the closure of some streets in the city to road traffic. The relationships between indoor and outdoor air qualities in respect of traffic-generated pollutants were studied and the building's relative attenuation of external pollution levels investigated. It is important to consider whether or not these external pollutants are significant in terms of their ingress into buildings and present a potential health hazard. The peak concentrations of some of the external pollutants were attenuated by the building and the internal concentrations showed a reduction of up to 30% in some periods. Data was used as input to a particle tracking dispersion model in order to present an integrated approach to monitoring and modelling pollution in the urban environment.