Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Feb 27;19(2):e0294605. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294605. eCollection 2024.
Air pollution poses a threat to human health. Public perceptions of air pollution are important for individual self-protection and policy-making. Given the uncertainty faced by residence-based exposure (RB) measurements, this study measures individuals' real-time mobility-based (MB) exposures and perceptions of air pollution by considering people's daily movement. It explores how contextual uncertainties may influence the disparities in perceived air quality by taking into account RB and MB environmental factors. In addition, we explore factors that are related to the mismatch between people's perceived air quality and actual air pollution exposure. Using K-means clustering to divide the PM2.5 values into two groups, a mismatch happens when the perceived air quality is poor but the air pollution level is lower than 15.536μg/m3 and when the perceived air quality is good but the air pollution level is higher than 15.608μg/m3. The results show that there is a mismatch between air pollution exposure and perception of air pollution. People with low income are exposed to higher air pollution. Unemployed people and people with more serious mental health symptoms (e.g., depression) have a higher chance of accurately assessing air pollution (e.g., perceiving air quality as poor when air pollution levels are high). Older people and those with a higher MB open space density tend to underestimate air pollution. Students tend to perceive air quality as good. People who are surrounded by higher MB transportation land-use density and green space density tend to perceive air quality as poor. The results can help policymakers to increase public awareness of high air pollution areas, and consider the health effects of landscapes during planning.
空气污染对人类健康构成威胁。公众对空气污染的看法对于个人自我保护和决策制定至关重要。鉴于基于居住地的暴露（RB）测量所面临的不确定性，本研究通过考虑人们的日常活动，测量个体的实时基于移动性（MB）暴露和对空气污染的感知。它探讨了在考虑 RB 和 MB 环境因素的情况下，情境不确定性如何影响感知空气质量的差异。此外，我们还探讨了与人们感知的空气质量和实际空气污染暴露之间不匹配相关的因素。使用 K-均值聚类将 PM2.5 值分为两组，当感知的空气质量较差但空气污染水平低于 15.536μg/m3 时，或者当感知的空气质量良好但空气污染水平高于 15.608μg/m3 时，就会出现不匹配的情况。结果表明，空气污染暴露与对空气污染的感知之间存在不匹配。低收入人群暴露于更高水平的空气污染中。失业者和心理健康症状更严重的人（例如，抑郁症）更有可能准确评估空气污染（例如，当空气污染水平较高时，感知空气质量较差）。老年人和 MB 开放空间密度较高的人往往会低估空气污染。学生往往会感知到空气质量良好。那些周围 MB 交通用地密度和绿地密度较高的人往往会感知到空气质量较差。研究结果可以帮助政策制定者提高公众对高空气污染地区的认识，并在规划中考虑景观的健康影响。
