This brochure, available in multiple languages, outlines how MARCHES is assessing scientific evidence on the specific health impacts of different pollutants.
Environmental health impact assessments (HIA) on green space, air pollution (fine particulate matter (PM2.5) or nitrogen dioxide (NO2)), and noise use exposure–response functions (ERF) based on single-exposure models from epidemiological studies, not accounting for potential confounding by other commonly correlated exposures. UBDPolicy assessed differences in ERFs between single- and multi-exposure models for calculation of joint health impacts in HIA.
As global urbanisation accelerates, alongside declining environmental quality and increasing climate challenges, it is increasingly vital for urban planners and policy makers to integrate health and wellbeing considerations into urban planning. This study introduces the Healthy Urban Design Index (HUDI), a high-resolution spatial index developed for European cities.
The number of studies on the health impacts of urban environmental stressors has been growing. However, research for South-Eastern Europe remains limited. UBDPolicy conducted a baseline Health Impact Assessment for Sofia, Bulgaria, focusing on air pollution, green space, road-traffic noise, and urban heat island (UHI) exposure aiming to promote discussions on sustainable, health-centric urban and transport planning policies.
75% of the EU population lives in cities, yet most cities were built as compact areas with a high population density and few green spaces. With climate change increasingly impacting urban residents, green areas such as parks are a key solution for climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition, increasing the share of green spaces is beneficial for residents’ physical and mental health.
A new briefing, published by the EU funded research project The Urban Burden of Disease Estimation for Policy Making (UBDPolicy), summarises the key health benefits of green spaces in cities and highlights best practices from 12 European cities. The briefing also includes science-based recommendations for local and European decision makers considering increasing the share of green spaces in cities.
Nitrate is a common drinking water pollutant worldwide, typically due to leaching of nitrogen fertilizers from agriculture. In addition to negative consequences on surface water ecosystems, contaminated surface or groundwater can reach people through drinking water. In particular, shallow groundwater wells can have very high nitrate levels if the groundwater sources are not sufficiently protected. This affects private well users, but also public supplies in areas where the geological conditions do not allow groundwater sourcing from deeper, nitrate-free aquifers. In Europe, drinking water should not exceed a maximum threshold of 50mg nitrate per litre, according to the European Union (EU) Drinking Water Directive.
Air pollution is a major global health issue. It is not limited to urban areas, but is pervasive in nearly all cities, with the negative effects spilling over to ecological and economic systems. Pollutants like particulate matter (PM), specifically PM2.5 and PM10, NO2 and ozone are linked to higher rates of chronic diseases. Short-term effects include coughing, headaches, and asthma, while long-term exposure can damage vital organs and contribute to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer, pulmonary disease, diabetes, and even mental health conditions. Although air pollution levels have declined over the past decades in Europe, only a handful of regions meet the safe concentration levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021.
The Green Corridors Plan (Eixos Verds Plan), proposed by the Barcelona City Council, aims to enhance urban well-being, environmental sustainability, and resilience by transforming one in every three streets into green corridors. Although initially designed for city-wide implementation, only the first phase, focused on the centric Eixample district, has been completed, and the overall plan implementation has been postponed. This study evaluates the health co-benefits of implementing the Green Corridors plan citywide, focusing on the direct effects of increased exposure to greenness and the impact of temperature reduction on mortality.
Urban spaces need to be rethought to address growing health and environmental challenges. Urban density and transport systems contribute significantly to air pollution, negatively impacting public health. Barcelona has begun a transformation by introducing the Superblock model, an urban development with proven health benefits. However, there is a lack of understanding of the health impacts of various planned urban and transport interventions. This study aims to explore planned urban and transport developments in Barcelona (e.g. Superblocks, Low emission zone, tactical urban planning, port electrification) and estimates the health impacts of their related exposures.
Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) for air pollutant mixtures are challenging because risk estimates are primarily derived from single-pollutant models. Combining risk estimates from multiple pollutants requires new approaches, as a simple addition of single pollutant risk estimates from correlated air pollutants may result in double counting. This article investigated approaches applying concentration-response functions (CRFs) from single- and two-pollutant models in HIAs, focusing on long-term exposure to particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and their associations with all-cause mortality.
