Roadside hedges are one way to spruce up a street, but they might help cut pollution, too.
Researchers from the Global Centre for Clean Air Research, University of Surrey, looked at how trees and hedges affected air pollution.
Researchers found that trees alone didn’t reduce pollution at breathing height (the average height of a walking person’s face) as the tree canopy was too high to provide a filtering effect for road-level tailpipe emissions. Roadside hedges were the most effective at reducing pollution exposure, cutting black carbon by up to 63%, and even a combination of trees and hedges were better than trees alone.
“This shows the important role strategically placed roadside hedges can play in reducing pollution exposure for pedestrians, cyclists and people who live close to roads. Urban planners should consider planting denser hedges and a combination of trees with hedges in open-road environments,” says Dr Prashant Kumar, the study’s senior author.
Picture Credit : Google
