GIS monitoring of urban air quality for local governance: the case of Madrid

Abstract

Local policies are requesting periodical assessments to elucidate whether urban evolution is positive or negative, according to different principles or points of view, such as the spatial disequilibria one. This is the case of Madrid, where on a yearly basis it is performed an exam of them, including issues such as atmospheric pollution, provided that it affects to human health, sustainability, environmental equity, etc.

In this contribution it is exposed a consulting activity made from the university, involving lots of geotechnologies based analysis. As an example, it is described here the methods and main results to assess the intraurban inequalities in outstanding air pollutants (NO2, ozone and PM10). To this end, using data registered in sampling stations, spatial interpolation is applied to estimate the pollution for the whole urban area; the results are then summarized for municipal districts, as a basis for comparison and decision taking.

Revista Ciencias Espaciales, Volumen 8, Número 2 Otoño, 2015; 431-451