The role of green spaces in the improvement of the urban population health quality (on the example of Nizhny Novgorod)

Atmospheric air pollution is one of the most serious environmental threats to human health. The implementation of measures to reduce air pollution reduces the risk of diseases. Such measures include the creation of a comfortable environment through the landscaping of urban areas. Green spaces in urban areas perform an important environment-forming function – purification of air from pollutants. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the degree of reduction of non-carcinogenic risk of diseases in the population of a large city (on the example of Nizhny Novgorod) by the level of purification of atmospheric air from pollutants by green spaces. Based on the calculated concentrations of priority pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone and suspended particles (PM₂ˏ₅ and PM₁₀) and green space inventory data for eight major intersections/sites in Nizhny Novgorod, the air quality improvement was estimated up to 42,12%. Based on the created maps of the real landscaping of the surveyed areas in the QGIS Desktop program, projects were developed to expand the landscaping of their areas. The air quality in the surveyed areas of Nizhny Novgorod was assessed. The non-carcinogenic risk of cardiovascular system and upper respiratory tract diseases for the residents of Nizhny Novgorod in the absence of vegetation, with real landscaping and in accordance with the proposed prospective landscaping projects was calculated. With the implementation of the proposed projects of perspective landscaping the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular system diseases in the population of Novgorod can be reduced by 25% on average in the city.