COMPACT URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

AND NEAR-ROADWAY AIR POLLUTION

HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Identifying Opportunities for Health Co-benefits of

Climate Change Mitigation in Southern California

Rob McConnell

University of Southern California

…and Nino Kunzli, John Wilson and Fred Lurmann

QUESTIONS FROM POLICY

MAKERS

What is the health impact of

increases in regulated

regional pollutants due to

traffic related pollution?

What is the health impact of

increases in near-roadway

pollutants (NRAP) which are

not currently regulated?

Pollution in the L.A. Basin

Ozone, NO2, PM

NO2,

PM

Two decades of air pollution policy

in Southern California…

… plus many other policies affecting on-road, off-road, and

stationary sources

Average

Levels of

Particles

(PM2.5)

declined

13% to

54%

Lurmann F, et. al. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. 2015;65:324-335

Near-Roadway Air Pollution:

Emerging EvidenceAssociated in studies in U.S. and Europe with:

– Childhood asthma

– Decreased lung function

– Heart attacks

– Lung cancer

– Accelerated cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease in the elderly

– Impaired neurodevelopment, including reduced IQ and autism

– Low birth weight and preterm birth

– Childhood obesity and obesity-related metabolic consequences, including diabetes

Children’s (and other Centers’) Community Outreach Core - Goods Movements in Los Angeles

Advice to Local Decision Makers and

Affected Communities

• Near-roadway pollution effects could be

mitigated through local zoning authority

– Siting of housing, schools, parks

Action is Warranted to Prevent

Childhood Disease

There is strong health science justification for regulating exposures within 500 feet of roadways with heavy traffic– Precedent exists:

For school construction in California

For low income housing construction in L.A. County

Will anything else work as well?– Filters, trees?

Skepticism and further study is in order

– L.A.’s “clean up, green up” policies

Innovations in Community Outreach

and Engagement

Health impact assessment (HIA) of near-roadway air

pollution (NRAP): Methods developed for respiratory

disease [Kunzli, et al. Epidemiology 2008, 19:179-185]

– Include NRAP

– Make it local

– Assign it a dollar value

– Link the large burden of disease to potential for climate

change mitigation health co-benefits (a “win-win” strategy)

What’s the Cost of Inaction?

– Number of childhood asthma cases in L.A.

County attributable to near-roadway pollution

20,000 – 30,000 cases

Cost of pollution-attributable asthma exacerbation over

$400m yearly

Close to half attributable to near-roadway pollution

Perez L, et al. Environ Health Perspect. Nov 2012;120:1619-1626

Brandt S, et. al. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2014;134:1028-1035

Opportunities

Planning for California Senate Bill-375:

Greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction through

2035 – Cleaner or zero emission vehicles

– Compact urban growth

Increasing use of public transit

Reducing vehicle miles traveled

Increased population density - denser housing

– Co-Benefits

Clear health co-benefits from reduced regional pollution

NRAP exposure less clear

Other health benefits from more parks, bike lanes,

development conducive to walking

What’s the Cost of Inaction?

– Number of deaths from heart attack in South

Coast air basin attributable to near-roadway

pollution

~430-1,300 ($3.8 - $11.5 billion)

– Compared with 1900 deaths from regional pollution

(PM2.5)

Number will increase substantially over next 25

years Ghosh R, et. al. Environ Health Perspect 2016; 124: 193-200

Brandt S, et. el. , Sci Total Environ 2017; 601-602: 391-6

Community Outreach and Engagement

Local government testimony/briefings

– Planning Commission (City of L.A., LA County)

– City Council

– LA County Board of Supervisors

– South Coast Air Quality Management District

– LA County Health Department

– Port Air Quality Advisory Committee

Risk assessment/burden of disease

Local community engagement

Convening/conferences

Media

– Infographics/blog

– Social media

– “Real news”

State legislature policy brief

Congressional briefings

EPA Clean Air SAC

Opportunities…

Los Angeles is a great laboratory for developing

urban re-designs to reduce GHG emission…

– It’s the law (AB 375)

– Nature reminds us regularly that she is coming for us

(ozone, fires, drought, floods, heat waves)

– It has political juice (developers will make $$$)

…and to generate health co-benefits

– Proposition H (parks)

Pollution reductions, green space intervention “natural

experiments”

–Measure JJJ (affordable housing) In low pollution environments

–Regulated re-development

Transit-Oriented Development

Metro Rail Stop

From the other side of the condo complex in L.A.!

Photo by Alison Cook for USC

Photo by Alison Cook for USC

Unintended Consequences

Incompatible land use?

• Over 35% of parks in LA County are within 500 meters of a freeway

• What are the health implications of promoting physical activity near heavy traffic?

• How should we balance park needs vs siting concerns?

Challenge is to find “win-win”

solutionsTransit-oriented development and affordable

housing with buffer to major traffic corridors

– Buffer does not need to be large

New parks away from freeways

BOTTOM LINE

– By ignoring near-roadway air pollution (and noise,

opportunities for parks and green space, and…), a

historic opportunity is at risk of being missed in the

GHG-targeted urban re-development

L.A. Times Feature

• Online: 3/2/2017

• Print: 3/5/2017

• Article: bit.ly/freeway_pollution

• Interactive Map: bit.ly/freewaymap

“Clean-up, Green-up…”, White-wash

“It’s possible to have a low carbon footprint city… with a crummy quality of life” – Travis Langcore

Maximizing Co-benefits of Urban Re-designTransit Oriented Development and New Parks

• New innovations in HIA

– Include expanded co-benefits for better decisión making (heat, air

pollution, noise, physical activity, foodscape, and…)

– Novel applications, eg. to SuperBlock and to port

– Rapid response HIA?

• Practical questions need additional research

– What are the logistics of minimizing noxious exposures in new or

refurbished parks?

– What types of green space provides most health benefits?

– What are relative benefits of exercise in polluted communities?

Maximizing Co-benefits of Urban Re-designTransit Oriented Development and New Parks

• The university

– Air pollution and health community

– Urban design specialties

• Architects and landscape architects, policy experts, planners

– Transportation planners

– Economists, political scientists

– Others, eg crime and safety expertise

• Other actors

– Civil society (obesity, homeless, parks, environmental alternative

transportation and EJ advocates, clinician organizations, the press)

– An engaged bureaucracy

• This should not be a partisan issue

• A strategy for fossil fuel industry and developers

– Lessons from tobacco regulatory science

– Cancer research enterprise, Tennessee Valley Authority

CHS InvestigatorsJohn Peters

Ed Avol

Jim Gauderman

Frank Gilliland

Duncan Thomas

Kiros Berhane

Rob McConnell

Nino Kuenzli

Mike Jerrett

Ed Rappaport

Stephanie London

William Navidi

Sandy Eckel

Meredith Franklin

Josh Millstein

Talat Islam

Towhid Salam

Scott Fruin

Heather Volk

Carrie Breton

Tracy Bastain

Fred Lurmann (STI)

Andrea Hricko

Jill Johnston

USC Field Teams Steve Howland

Lupe Valencia

Cindi Woo

Dana Takamoto

Deborah Kim

Lori Nasi

Milena Lopez

Rudy Caldera

Letty Caldera

Lisa Grossman

Linda Smith

Julie Hulett

Gilbert Ramos

Christine Fust

Andrea Nunez

Henry Valencia

Reshama Damle

Ned Realiza

Reyna Leyva

Blanca Garcia

Martha Duarte

Brenda Figueroa

Patty Duran

Jane Cabazon

Lisa Valencia

Susie Hutfless

Nadia Lupercio

Jeanine Hanna

Sonoma Technology, Incorporated

Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center / LAREI

Aerosol Dynamics, Inc

South Coast Air Quality Management District

San Diego Air Pollution Control District

San Luis Obispo/Tri-Counties Air Pollution

Control District

Mojave Air Pollution Control District

Antelope Valley Air Pollution Control District

California Air Resources Board

StaffRobert Urman Feifei Liu

Jun ManillaJassy Molitor Rima Habre

Hita Vora Allison Padilla John Morrison

…and many other staff , post docs, and students

Children’s Health Study

(CHS)

A “10-year” health study (est. 1992)

…going on 25 years now!

Funded by: SC-AQMD

& the Hastings Foundation

Questions?

rmcconne@usc.edu