Data Study Group Network Final Report: Bristol City Council

Get Bristol moving: tackling air pollution in Bristol city centre

Air quality is an increasing public health concern in UK cities, and Bristol is no exception breaching annual targets for nitrogen dioxide. In Bristol, five people die each week as a result of poor air quality. Like most UK cities, in Bristol the main cause of air pollution is traffic. To reduce the negative impacts of air pollution, and meet increasingly stringent European Union pollutant standards, Bristol is currently consulting on a Clean Air Strategy. A range of policies is proposed including increased public transport, clean air zones and road closures. The city council currently collects a wealth of data (about air quality, traffic flows and weather) for analyzing the distribution of air quality and the relationship with various drivers. Such understanding has the potential to feed into the design and evaluation of air quality policies. However, the council has limited capacity for analyzing and interpreting such large and complex datasets. This project mines this data to understand both the spatial and temporal distribution of air quality. the driving factors of air pollution in different parts of the city, with a particular focus upon traffic.