Exposure to multiple environmental conditions during walking: a comparison of mobility- and residential-based approach using mobile big data

Keywords: environmental exposure, pedestrians, travel environment, greenery, air pollution, noise, mobile phone data
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

Pedestrians moving in urban space are exposed to multiple environmental conditions, from healthy to harmful. While population registry data can help identify environmental exposure in residential areas and respective socioeconomic disparities, data on realized mobility behavior of people enable analysis of dynamic exposure patterns in urban areas. A combination of those two approaches provides a more nuanced basis for environmental equity analysis on an urban scale.
We aim to understand pedestrians’ exposure to multiple environmental conditions in Helsinki, Finland, both in residential neighborhoods and in the realized travel environments. By combining exposure measures with registry-based socioeconomic characteristics of residents, we evaluate the presence of environmental disparities between socio-spatial groups.
We use mobile phone data in the form of origin-destination matrices and an in-house developed Green Paths routing software to provide rich exposure measures for pedestrian trips. We analyze co-exposure to street-level greenery, traffic noise, and air pollution at short, up to 2 km routes suitable for walking, and identify areas with high or low cumulative exposure in pedestrian travel environments.
Our results show that 14% of short trips occur and 7% of residents live in areas with the worst cumulative exposure. At the same time, less than 1% of trips departure from and 3% of residents live in areas with the best cumulative exposure. Despite spatial disparities, our results do not reveal clear socioeconomic disparities in environmental exposures during walking. Acknowledging population level exposure patterns in travel environments would support evidence-based urban and transport planning to advance urban livability.