We present measurements of C1–C8 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at four sites ranging from urban to rural areas in Hong Kong from September 2002 to August 2003. A total of 248 ambient VOC samples were collected. As expected, the urban and sub-urban sites generally gave relatively high VOC levels. In contrast, the average VOC levels were the lowest in the rural area. In general, higher mixing...

Since the implementation of market oriented economic reform in 1978, China has been on the track of rapid urbanization. The unprecedented urbanization in China has resulted in substantial cultivated land loss and rapid expansion of urban areas. The cultivated land loss due to urbanization not only threatens food security in China, but has also led to ecological system degradation to which close...

Anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOC) often dominate the urban atmosphere and consist to a large degree of aromatic hydrocarbons (ArHC), such as benzene, toluene, xylenes, and trimethylbenzenes, e.g. from handling and combustion of fuels. These compounds are important precursors for the formation of secondary organic aerosol. Here we show that oxidation of aromatics with OH leads to a...

introduction one of the critical issues associated with sustainability in the twenty-first century is how cities are growing and developing in the space. rapid urban growth and physical development of cities cause disintegration of the spatial organization of cities and consequently spatial inequality between urban spaces. this phenomenon can be considered as spatial segregation or fragmentatio...

This article is based on a study of the morphological changes of Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. The main objective of the research is to study the transformation of urban morphology in Dhaka City from 1947 to 2007. Three sample wards (18, 19 and 72) of Dhaka City Corporation are strategically selected as the study areas. Ward 72 has an indigenous type of organic settlement, whereas ward...

Cities are dynamic complex systems evolving through their functions and human activities. While the regional boundaries are artificially created, dwellers move around them by walking, cycling or taking vehicles with various purposes and such movements in the cities generate “organic” boundaries. In this paper, we introduce how to extract such organic boundaries of cities based on the human mobi...

INTRODUCTION Safe wastewater treatment methods have always been a challenge to the society. During the last 50 years, pollution abatement measures have been given high priority, particularly discharges from the growing urban areas. Early objectives were to reduce the emissions of organic matter and pathogens, while other objectives related to the emission of heavy metals and nutrients (phosphor...

Coastal areas are rapidly developing due to population growth and the appeal of coastlines. In order to gain insight into how land use/cover affects carbon (C) storage in a coastal context, we examined soil and vegetation C and soil nitrogen (N) across land uses near Apalachicola, FL. Forested wetlands had the greatest soil C and N storage, while natural pine forests and pine plantations had th...

Urbanization is widely presumed to degrade ecosystem services, but empirical evidence is now challenging these assumptions. We report the first city-wide organic carbon (OC) budget for vegetation and soils, including under impervious surfaces. Urban soil OC storage was significantly greater than in regional agricultural land at equivalent soil depths, however there was no significant difference...