Policies, Patterns and Processes: Creating Solutions for Air Quality and Extreme Heat for Peri-Urban Inhabitants Using State-of-the-Art Measurements and Models

In Africa, air pollution and extreme heat hazards are complex and influenced by interconnected socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors. This problem remains poorly understood, especially in the peri-urban landscapes of Africa, where poor air quality has been exacerbated by rapid and unplanned urbanization in addition to global change. The unplanned expansion of peri-urban landscapes hinders the implementation of coherent policies and preventive measures against air pollution and extreme heat. Literature shows that air pollution has negative impacts on agricultural production, human health, education, healthcare, and labor productivity. Furthermore, poor air quality combined with weather-related hazards can increase the burden on already struggling households in peri-urban communities. This consortium proposes a transdisciplinary approach to address the growing challenges associated with air pollution and extreme heat in peri-urban areas of sub-Saharan African cities. With the goal of understanding hazards, exposure, and vulnerability, and to inform policies for extreme heat resilience and clean air, this project will: (1) Combine state-of-the-art remote sensing with high-resolution air quality modeling to measure and map geographic and temporal patterns of air pollution and extreme heat; (2) Identify underlying processes that may cause existing patterns of air pollution and extreme heat using diverse datasets, including remotely sensed land-use/land-cover characteristics and emissions inventories; (3) Create comprehensive and nuanced knowledge on exposure, sensitivity, and capacity to respond to risk by combining GIS analyses with community perspectives; and (4) Jointly-design solutions for air pollution and extreme heat challenges by bringing together com m unity m em bers, policy-makers, and researchers.