School of Mathematics and Finance, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou 239000, China.
School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 28;18(19):10210. doi: 10.3390/ijerph181910210.
The Smog Free Tower (SFT) in the city of Xi'an, China, is the world's first outdoor architecture that uses solar energy and filtration technology to purify polluted air. It provides a unique opportunity to explore residents' willingness to pay for air quality and their related behaviors. Drawing on data collected after the establishment of the SFT, this paper reveals the characteristics of changes in people's willingness to pay for clean air. We found that, prior to the release of an assessment report on the SFT, housing prices had an inverted U-shaped relationship with the distance to the SFT, which indicated people tended to purchase houses a certain distance away from the SFT. The threshold value of distance was inversely related to the greening ratio of the residential area. However, after the publication of the experimental report on the SFT, housing prices decreased as the distance to the SFT increased, indicating the closer the house was to the SFT, the more likely people were to buy it. These changes confirmed that people are willing to pay for clean air. The convenience of transportation had a significant moderating effect on the willingness to pay for clean air, however. In other words, people may buy houses with lower air quality if they have better transportation accessibility. The findings of this paper may have practical implications for environmental governance, urban planning, residential satisfaction, and real estate market regulation.
中国西安市的“空气净化塔”（SFT）是世界上第一座利用太阳能和过滤技术净化污染空气的户外建筑。它为探索居民对空气质量的支付意愿及其相关行为提供了独特的机会。本文利用 SFT 建立后的收集数据，揭示了人们对清洁空气支付意愿变化的特点。我们发现，在发布 SFT 评估报告之前，房价与 SFT 距离呈倒 U 型关系，这表明人们倾向于购买一定距离之外的房屋。距离的门槛值与居住区的绿化比例呈反比。然而，在 SFT 的实验报告发布后，随着 SFT 距离的增加，房价下降，这表明房子越靠近 SFT，人们越有可能购买。这些变化证实了人们愿意为清洁空气付费。然而，交通便利性对清洁空气支付意愿具有显著的调节作用。换句话说，如果交通便利性更好，人们可能会购买空气质量较低的房屋。本文的研究结果可能对环境治理、城市规划、居民满意度和房地产市场监管具有实际意义。
