Activity-based air pollution exposure assessment: Differences between homemakers and cycling commuters

Abstract

Long-term air pollution exposure may lead to an increase in incidences and mortality rates of chronic diseases and adversely affect human health. The effects of long-term air pollution exposure have not been comprehensively studied due to the lack of human mobility data collected over a long period. In this study, we develop and apply a personal mobility model to long-term hourly air pollution concentration predictions to quantify personal long-term air pollution exposure for all individuals. We implement our model assuming mobility patterns for commuters and homemakers, and separate between weekdays and weekend. Our results show that NO₂ exposure of commuters are on average slightly higher and vary less spatially as they are exposed to NO₂ at multiple locations.

Keywords: Activity; Agent-based modelling; Air pollution; Data poor; Exposure; Space-time path.