Abstract
Seoul is one of the cities that is most seriously affected by air pollution among OECD member countries. Although the government claims to be actively working to improve air quality, there has not yet been any significant changes because policies typically focus on controlling the total amount of air pollution created and fail to address specific causal factors. For air quality management to be effective, there needs to be analyses specifically on the correlation between air pollution and urban spatial elements (ex. topography, land use, population, transportation, etc.) in order to determine their impacts on air pollution. The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of air pollutants, and to analyze the correlation between urban spatial elements and distribution patterns of air pollution. The findings from simulated analyses were as follows: First, the level of NO2, CO, and SO2 in the CBD, Gangnam-gu, and Guro-gu was higher than in other districts. Second, each district was influenced by different urban spatial elements. The CBD and Gangnam-gu were heavily affected by traffic volumes, business facilities, and building density. On the other hand, north-eastern and north western areas of Seoul were found to have been affected mainly by traffic volumes. Finally, NO2 and CO concentrations were determined to have been the result of building density and traffic volumes. However, SO2 was concluded to have been the result of only building density and traffic volumes but residence patterns as well.