Urban form and environmental quality from vehicular traffic in cities

Abstract

The planning traffic circulation has disregarded its implications on environmental quality of urban space by privileging the relationship between intensity of road flows and physical capacity of roads. The research highlights the importance of the environmental capacity of the road system and identifies a set of characteristics of urban structure that contribute to the concentration or dispersion of pollutants arising from motor vehicles emissions. The systematization of information on how to use each feature to enhance the environmental quality, minimizing negative effects of pollution constitutes a subsidy to professionals in the construction or reconstruction of urban space.