Causes of urban pollution
Cars:
One of the main causes of urban pollution is the increasing number of cars and other vehicles on the road. Exhaust emissions from these vehicles result in the production of the main green house gases carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions. This not only damages the urban environment by polluting the air but is possibly a cause of respiratory diseases.
Traffic congestion causes high levels of carbon emissions
Solutions:
There are a number of ways of limiting the number of vehicles and amount of emissions in urban areas. Encouraging public transport such as trams and tubes significantly reduces the number of vehicles on the road and so reduces congestion as well as pollution. The lower the congestion is in an urban area the lower the exhaust emissions are as much fuel is used up when stuck in slow moving traffic jams. Further ways to cut down on the number of vehicles on the road is to introduce something like the coloured number plate system used in Mexico City. These colour coded number plates prevent cars from going out on certain days of the week. Another way is to encourage cycling by setting up integrated cycle paths throughout an urban area so everything is easily accessible by bike. Also setting up bike racks outside places such as shopping centers and bus stations as well as allowing bikes to be carried on buses for free could also help to encourage commuters to travel by bike and not car. These measures have been introduced in Glasgow and have proved to be very successful.