More sustainable management of pollution: integrated approach, models and tools

The PUrE (Pollutants in the Urban Environment) research consortium is developing anew decision-support framework for the integrated assessment of options for more sustainable management of urban pollution. This framework involves three steps: (i)mapping the flow of pollutants associated with human activities; (ii) modelling the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment; and (iii) quantifying the environmental, health and socio-economic impacts of urban pollution. The new decision-support framework provides an integrated approach which will facilitate the comparison of different management options based on their sustainability. The decision-support framework includes a suite of different models and tools, to support the sustainability appraisal of two or more options, for example: life cycle assessment, source(emissions) characterisation, pollutant fate and transport modelling, environmental impact assessment, health impact analysis, ecological impacts assessment, and multi-criteria decision analysis. This paper presents examples of the methodologies used by the project researchers to develop various elements of the framework. The new framework can be used at different levels, for example, to conduct a simple screening study as well as for a more detailed assessment. This paper describes many details of the framework and outlines several case studies developed to demonstrate its application.