Whether Cycling Around the City is in Fact Healthy in the Light of Air Quality – Results of Black Carbon

Studying the air quality and exposure of the inhabitants of urban agglomerations to pollution is the basis for the creation and development of more and more sustainable cities, thus improving the quality of life of citizens. Although research on black carbon (BC) has not yet reached the official acceptable levels and guidelines, the World Health Organization clearly indicates the need to measure and control the level of this pollutant. In Poland, monitoring of the level of BC concentration is not included in the air quality monitoring network (AQMN). To estimate the extent of this pollutant to which pedestrians and cyclists are exposed, mobile measurements were carried out on over 26 km of bicycle paths within the administrative area of the city of Wrocław. The obtained results indicate the influence of urban greenery next to the bicycle path (especially if the cyclist is separated from the street lane by hedges or other tall plants) and the ‘breathability’ (associated with i.e. surrounding infrastructure) of the area on the obtained concentrations; the average concentration of BC in such places ranged from 1.3 to 2.2μg/m3, whereas a cyclist riding directly on bike paths adjacent to the main roads in the city center is exposed to concentrations in the range of 2.3 - 14 μg/m3. The results of the measurements clearly indicate the importance of the infrastructure surrounding the bicycle paths, their location, and the impact of urban traffic on the obtained BC concentrations. The results presented in our study are based only on short-term-field campaigns preliminary studies. To determine the quantitative impact of the characteristics of the bicycle route on the concentration of pollutants, and thus the exposure of users, the systematized research should cover a greater part of the city and be representative in terms of various hours of the day