title: Analysing the influence of different street vegetation on traffic-induced particle dispersion using microscale simulations.
abstract: Urban vegetation can be viewed as compensation to the environmental drawbacks of urbanisation. However, its ecosystem function is not well-known and, for urban planning, vegetation is mainly considered as an element of urban design. This article argues that planning practice needs to re-examine the impact of vegetation cover in the urban fabric given our evaluation of vegetation's effects on air quality, including the dispersion of traffic-induced particles at street level. Using the three-dimensional microclimate model ENVI-met®, we evaluate these effects regarding the height-to-width ratio of streets flanked by buildings and the vertical and horizontal density of street vegetation. Our results reveal vegetation's effect on particle dispersion through its influence on street ventilation. In general, vegetation was found to reduce wind speed, causing inhibition of canyon ventilation and, consequently, an increase in particle concentrations. Vegetation was also found to reduce wind speed at crown-height and to disrupt the flow field in close vicinity to the canopy. With increasing height-to-width ratio of street canyons, wind speed reduction increases and the disturbance of the flow impacts across a canyon's entire width. We also found that the effect is more pronounced in configurations with poor ventilation, such as the low wind speed, perpendicular inflow direction, and in deep canyons cases.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Image Ville Environnement ERL 7230 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 3 Rue de l'Argonne, 67000 Strasbourg, France. annett.wania@jrc.ec.europa.eu
authors.forename: Annett
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wania
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruse
authors.forename: Nadège
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Blond
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D002958:City Planning; D002980:Climate; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D010944:Plants; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter