Examination of the Relationship between Urban Air Pollution and Urban Planning Decisions in Cigli Case, Izmir (Turkey)

The air pollution problem remains, although significant improvements have been seen in urban air quality over the last years. Despite the size and variety of studies on urban air pollution, the usage of spatial statistics has been extremely limited. This study aims to show that the spatial statistic techniques can well be used to examine and explain the air pollution levels in urban areas. The data for the sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations are measures using passive diffusion tubes at the 67 monitoring sites in the district of Cigli (Izmir), which are selected through a spatial systematic sampling process. The tubes were exposed for a 2-week period in August 2015. For the determination of the level of clustering for high values and low values of SO2 and NO2 concentrations, Getis-Ord G* local statistics are calculated. There are five points with high values of SO2 surrounded by low values, three points of NO2, where the results are statistically significant at the 0.10 level. The findings indicate that the presence of the industrial zone, the form of fossil fuels (coal or natural gas) used in heating, and topography are the strong determinants urban air pollution. (C) 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd