How the way we build cities and communities affects thequality of the air that we breathe

Poor air quality is still a major issue affecting a large number of Americans. In new research, Nikhil Kaza and Josh McCarty write that how urban areas are laid out can make a difference to local air quality. Using remote sensing data for continental United States, they find that both sprawling cities and mixed urban and rural counties are more associated with poor air quality. The more fragmented communities are, the worse the local air quality. They argue that increasing the amount of forest cover near to these areas will help to improve air quality.