As part of Working package 3, the team at Technical University Berlin is developing a diffuse pollution identification tool designed to study the simultaneous dynamics of pollutant build-up and connectivity in urban areas. As mentioned in the previous newsletter in 2023, a prototype of this tool, named CleanCityCover, was initially developed for the case study areas in Aarhus.
The next step involves TUB expanding the tool’s application to Santiago de Compostela, where CleanCityCover will be developed specifically for five subareas (Fig 1). These subareas represent a variety of urban environments:
- The first three subareas, marked in purple in Fig 1 , include a variety of urban settings: one is located in the busy city centre around the Santiago de Compostela Arch cathedral Basilica, another is a residential area in the north-west part of the city, and the third is situated near the heavily trafficked N550 highway running through the city.
- The remaining two subareas, marked in red in Fig 1, are located in the Sionlla and Tambre Industrial Parks on the city’s outskirts. These areas are also case study sites for the GEAMA research group from the University of A Coruña, which is actively conducting water quality monitoring here as part of Working Package 2. The CleanCityCover tool will be validated in these industrial areas using data from this ongoing water quality monitoring.
Notably, Santiago de Compostela and Aarhus differ significantly in both topography and urban layout. Santiago de Compostela is characterised by narrow, steep, medieval streets, particularly in the historic centre. In contrast, while Aarhus is also a historic city, it has been more modernized with broader, less steeper streets. Although, Santiago de Compostela experiences immense amount of foot traffic, especially during peak pilgrim seasons, is has lighter car traffic compared to Aarhus. Furthermore, variations in rain characteristics that affect overland flow dynamics could further amplify the pollution dynamics in the two cities.
Authors: Boney Anna Joseph, TUB; Nasrin Haacke, KWB and TUB
2024-11-05