Why do people choose to reside in cities? How does urban pollution affect their location decisions? This paper provides an overview of the literature that studies how different agglomeration and dispersion forces affect the internal structure and the size of cities. In particular, we discuss models that investigate the role of urban pollution on the structure of cities. We show that pollution associated with the industrial, residential and transport sectors has an impact on different land uses and might lead to either monocentric or polycentric urban forms. We also examine the effect of land use, environmental and transport policies on urban form and urban pollution levels. We conclude by discussing the policy challenges that can be identified in order to efficiently manage urbanisation and create sustainable cities.
Cities and the Environment: The Case of Air Pollution
This paper is based on one lecture given by Efthymia Kyriakopoulou at the EAERE-ETH European Winter School on Spatial Environmental and Resource Economics. The lecture was entitled “Cities, Transport and the Environment” and the Winter School took place at Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland, 26–31 January, 2020. The author would like to thank the winter school organiser, Lucas Bretschger, the school coordinator, Anastasios Xepapadeas, the lecturers, Mads Greaker, Roberto Patuelli, and Angels Xabadia, as well as the winter school students for inspiring this paper. The author acknowledges financial support from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Project title: To buy or not to buy. Vehicle demand and policy for sustainable transport).
Kyriakopoulou E (2021), "Cities and the Environment: The Case of Air Pollution". International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 15 No. 4 pp. 319–358, doi: https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000130
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