How can you improve air quality in cities with heavy traffic?

I suggest that improving air quality in traffic-heavy cities can be effectively achieved through a blend of promoting public transit, enhancing bike infrastructure, creating green spaces, enforcing strict vehicle emissions standards, encouraging carpooling, implementing smart traffic management, and raising public awareness."

To improve air quality in cities with heavy traffic, it's essential to encourage people to use different ways of getting around, instead of just relying on cars. A great start is to make public transportation like electric buses as in Japan and underground metro more appealing - they should be reliable, frequent, and affordable so more people choose them over driving. Cities can also create safe bike lanes and walking paths, encouraging people to cycle or walk, which is not only good for the environment but also for their health. Another idea is to support electric cars and bikes. This can be done by offering benefits like lower taxes for those who buy them, and by building more charging stations.

In a lot of cities, one may see ine car one occupant. If we can incentivise car pooling, it will help to the cause. Car pooling is a great way to reduce the carbon emissions.

As Commercial Manager at B&H Buses, I served the AMEX Stadium's transport planning committee. We employed a multi-pronged strategy to reduce parking and introduce discounted buses via season tickets. Additional trains and improved cycling infrastructure were also implemented. Initially, car use prevailed, but changing this perception took time. Public parking extended to farmers' fields, leading them to establish parking lots. AMEX advocated sustainable transport, yet cars resurfaced. Convenience and habit persisted despite the football club's substantial efforts. This highlights the challenge of countering convenience, even with feasible alternatives.

Cities can benefit from developing intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that provide drivers with real-time traffic information, enabling them to make informed decisions about their routes and avoid congested areas. Additionally, creating dedicated bus lanes and promoting high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes encourage public transit and carpooling, further easing traffic flow. By integrating these measures, cities can significantly reduce traffic bottlenecks, lower vehicular emissions, and create a more sustainable urban transport environment, ultimately contributing to cleaner, healthier air.

The success of LEZs and emission standards, however, hinges on robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, along with public awareness campaigns that educate citizens about the benefits of reduced vehicular emissions. As cities worldwide grapple with the challenges of air pollution and climate change, the adoption of LEZs and stringent emission standards emerges as a critical tool in their arsenal, promising cleaner air, healthier communities, and a more sustainable life

Green buildings are a great way to absorb pollution. Vertical gardens as they are called, are a great way to absorb the pollutants.

We can do what singapore did, green walls and vertical gardens are not mere aesthetic choices but functional assets in combating urban heat islands, thereby cooling the cityscape and improving air quality. The extensive network of parks and green corridors in Singapore's urban fabric serves dual purposes: nurturing biodiversity and offering accessible recreational space, thus ensuring green spaces aren't an afterthought but a core element of urban planning. These parks and green connectors, which form ecological networks, facilitate wildlife movement and provide serene retreats for residents, fostering community well-being.

Great planning is often undone by time and stakeholders. A truly great road with bike lanes and timed traffic signals will always be eroded by added traffic lights, later added traffic calming schemes, roadworks, road narrowing for the elderly, public complaints generating changes and different council members or rules as time progresses. Often road design is forced to take into account history and buildings and is limited by existing infrastructure and space. Surely this is now a time when AI can start to be utilised to analyse whole towns as a whole rather than councils do when looking at a single road, not necessarily in the contact of what benefits the whole.

Cities will always grow due to job opportunities. The stakeholders should be able to forecast this need and create alternate solutions.