SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS IN AN EXTENDED CONTEMPORARY CITY

摘要

Contemporary cities face significant traffic problems that tend to degrade the quality of life. Moreover, traffic habits of the residents in each city district are directly related to their socioeconomic status. In order to study the traffic patterns in a city and its suburbs, a huge amount of traffic data (number of automobiles, composition of the fleet, etc.) is required. Since these data are not available in many cases, carbon monoxide (CO), a pollutant routinely recorded in almost all cities since early 1970s, is proposed to be used as an indicator of the traffic volume and characteristics of a city. In an urban environment, CO is almost exclusively emitted from automobiles, while rarely presenting chemical activity. This method was applied to the city of Athens and its suburbs to characterize the traffic habits (patterns) in relation to the socioeconomic status of the residents.