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PUrE: Pollutants in the Urban Environment

 


Research Project Details

Project Leader: Professor Adisa Azapagic

Project Duration: August 2003 - July 2009.

Funding Value: £2m.

Funding Source: EPSRC SUE (Sustainable Urban Environments) Programme

Project Partners:

  • Cardiff University
  • Forest Research
  • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Sheffield
  • University of Surrey
  • ARPA Sicily
  • ARUP
  • BCSD-UK
  • BRE
  • EA
  • Forestry Commission
  • Golders
  • HPA
  • NSCA
  • QUB
  • SEPA
  • SEEDA
  • SNIFFER
  • TRL
  • UKWIR
  • WRc

Project Overview

The aim of the PUrE project was to develop an integrated decision-support framework comprising a suite of appropriate models and tools for a more sustainable management of urban pollution.

The specific research objectives and themes of the project were:

  • to develop further understanding of and to establish links between sources, pollutants and human activities in the urban environment

  • to develop an integrated approach to the selection and application of appropriate tools for modelling the fate and transport of a range of pollutants in the urban environment which considers important processes and key dynamic aspects

  • to develop an assessment methodology and integrate a suite of appropriate models and tools to help urban stakeholders understand the potential human health and ecological impacts of pollution in the urban environment

  • to understand the relationships between socio-economic factors, human behaviour and urban pollution and to ensure that a robust understanding of these issues underpinned the methodological development of the PUrE programme

  • to develop a methodology that enabled consideration of spatial and temporal dimensions of urban pollution

  • to develop a methodology for integrated sustainability assessments of alternative options (human activities, technologies, policies etc.) and scenarios, showing explicit trade-offs between environmental, social and economic criteria and enabling balanced decision making

  • to develop a better understanding of complex relationships between pollution, policy and liability

  • to understand the main risks and uncertainties in different elements of the PUrE methodology and decision-support framework, including uncertainties in the decisionmaking process.

The main deliverables were a decision-support methodology, modelling platform (software) incorporating a suite of models and tools, and the end-user guidance documents.

For More Information

Visit the project web site: www.pureframework.org.

The primary contact for this project is Professor Adisa Azapagic.

All group members involved in this project: