Urban scale integrated assessment for London: Which emission reduction strategies are more effective in attaining prescribed PM10 air quality standards by 2005?

Tightening of air quality standards for populated urban areas has led to increasing attention to assessment of air quality management areas (AQMAs) where exceedance occurs, and development of control strategies to eliminate such exceedance. Software tools that bring together data on pollutant sources, their respective contributions to atmospheric concentrations and human exposure, together with information on potential technological and other measures that may be used to reduce concentrations and their economic costs, can be used to identify cost-effective strategies for improving air quality, and hence aid policy development. The Urban Scale Integrated Assessment Model (USIAM) has been developed in this context, illustrated in this paper by application to traffic emissions which are a major contributor to exceedance of air quality objectives for fine particulate matter, PM10, in London. In such a multidisciplinary approach the aim has been to provide a tool for rapid assessment of a wide range of scenarios to identify those that are most cost effective, maintaining a balance between the level of sophistication in the model and the uncertainties and assumptions involved.