Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Framework
- Part II Ecological features
- 4 Urban soil and chemicals
- 5 Urban air
- 6 Urban water systems
- 7 Urban water bodies
- 8 Urban habitat, vegetation, plants
- 9 Urban wildlife
- Part III Urban features
- Epilogue
- Appendix A Positive and negative attributes of an urban region
- Appendix B Equations
- References
- Index
5 - Urban air
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Framework
- Part II Ecological features
- 4 Urban soil and chemicals
- 5 Urban air
- 6 Urban water systems
- 7 Urban water bodies
- 8 Urban habitat, vegetation, plants
- 9 Urban wildlife
- Part III Urban features
- Epilogue
- Appendix A Positive and negative attributes of an urban region
- Appendix B Equations
- References
- Index
Summary
… this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
William Shakespeare, The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, 1603We all live downwind.
Bumper sticker in USA, 1980sWe all live downstream.
Environmentalist’s motto, quoted in The New Ecology of Nature, 2002We daily bathe in urban air. So does everything else in built areas. The nature of this air overwhelmingly depends on microclimate and pollutants, which in turn are strongly determined by the built environment.
Consider the urban trees and other plants that bathe continuously outdoors. Individual trees, tree lines and woods, plus mowed grass, low spontaneous plant cover and ornamental plantings, are the prime vegetation types found repeatedly across urban areas. Individual shrubs are common, though shrubby areas tend to be uncommon despite their ecological importance (Forman, 2008).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Urban EcologyScience of Cities, pp. 125 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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