ROLE OF URBAN PLANNING IN AIR QUALITY CONTROL FOR THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION - LESSONS LEARNT FROM JAPAN AND THE U.S. -

ABSTRACT

Air pollution in cities remains one of the major environmental problems throughout the world, not only in developing countries, but also mid-developed and even well-developed countries such as Japan and the United States. The IGES Urban Environmental Management Project conducts research to identify solutions for such issues from a local policy point of view. In this line of study, our project has determined that policymakers and relevant stakeholders must further consider urban planning in order to solve the current air quality issues in the Asia-Pacific region. This poster session intends to summarize the role of urban planning in air quality control at present by looking at the two aspects of urban planning (physical and procedural). Physical aspects include urban distribution and its structure mainly taught in geographic courses such as concentric planning, sector & multiple nuclei, CBD and commercial hierarchy, etc., and also substantive theories such as urban form, landscaping, city shapes, and building design. Procedural aspects include the process of urban planning, such as the methods by which plans are formulated, how decisions are made, how conflicts are resolved, how policies, plans and programs are implemented and how they are or should be evaluated. In addressing physical aspects, we mainly look at the United States’ struggle to prevent sprawl and the integration of policies for combating air pollution. These include the smart growth movement, traditional neighborhood development, transit-oriented development, compact cities and so on. The procedural cases will analyze the unsuccessful experiences of Japan (strong top-down, vertical decision-making system, little public participation, and poor planning education) as negative examples. Here this session will also present a system for air quality control considering these two aspects of planning and integration of physical and procedural aspects into air quality control policies. Using the data gathered from local interviews and questionnaires, this session calculates the conditions that maximize the effect on air quality in each area.