The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between smart cities and urban energy sustainability. Because achieving a “smart city” is a wide agenda rather than a specific set of ...interventions, smartness itself cannot easily be measured or quantifiably assessed. Instead, we understand smart cities to be a broad framework of strategies pursued by urban actors, and ask whether and how smart city projects catalyze urban energy sustainability. We use case studies of three cities (Nottingham, Stavanger, and Stockholm) funded by the Horizon 2020 Smart Cities and Communities program and examine how urban energy sustainability was advanced and realized through the smart city initiatives. We find first that while sustainability is not always a major objective of local implementation of smart city projects, the smartness agenda nevertheless increases the ambition to achieve energy sustainability targets. Second, the sustainability measures in smart cities are rarely driven by advanced technology, even though the smart city agenda is framed around such innovations. Third, there is significant sustainability potential in cross-sectoral integration, but there are unresolved challenges of accountability for and measurability of these gains.
•«Smart city» has become a major policy priority in many countries.•Need to examine how well the smart city agenda promotes energy sustainability.•We find that the smartness agenda increases sustainability ambitions of cities.•Despite the rhetoric, sustainability measures are not necessarily driven by advanced technology.•Outcomes are contingent, and to a significant extent determined by local actors.
Summary Background National levels of personal health-care access and quality can be approximated by measuring mortality rates from causes that should not be fatal in the presence of effective ...medical care (ie, amenable mortality). Previous analyses of mortality amenable to health care only focused on high-income countries and faced several methodological challenges. In the present analysis, we use the highly standardised cause of death and risk factor estimates generated through the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) to improve and expand the quantification of personal health-care access and quality for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015. Methods We mapped the most widely used list of causes amenable to personal health care developed by Nolte and McKee to 32 GBD causes. We accounted for variations in cause of death certification and misclassifications through the extensive data standardisation processes and redistribution algorithms developed for GBD. To isolate the effects of personal health-care access and quality, we risk-standardised cause-specific mortality rates for each geography-year by removing the joint effects of local environmental and behavioural risks, and adding back the global levels of risk exposure as estimated for GBD 2015. We employed principal component analysis to create a single, interpretable summary measure–the Healthcare Quality and Access (HAQ) Index–on a scale of 0 to 100. The HAQ Index showed strong convergence validity as compared with other health-system indicators, including health expenditure per capita (r=0·88), an index of 11 universal health coverage interventions ( r =0·83), and human resources for health per 1000 ( r =0·77). We used free disposal hull analysis with bootstrapping to produce a frontier based on the relationship between the HAQ Index and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a measure of overall development consisting of income per capita, average years of education, and total fertility rates. This frontier allowed us to better quantify the maximum levels of personal health-care access and quality achieved across the development spectrum, and pinpoint geographies where gaps between observed and potential levels have narrowed or widened over time. Findings Between 1990 and 2015, nearly all countries and territories saw their HAQ Index values improve; nonetheless, the difference between the highest and lowest observed HAQ Index was larger in 2015 than in 1990, ranging from 28·6 to 94·6. Of 195 geographies, 167 had statistically significant increases in HAQ Index levels since 1990, with South Korea, Turkey, Peru, China, and the Maldives recording among the largest gains by 2015. Performance on the HAQ Index and individual causes showed distinct patterns by region and level of development, yet substantial heterogeneities emerged for several causes, including cancers in highest-SDI countries; chronic kidney disease, diabetes, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections among middle-SDI countries; and measles and tetanus among lowest-SDI countries. While the global HAQ Index average rose from 40·7 (95% uncertainty interval, 39·0–42·8) in 1990 to 53·7 (52·2–55·4) in 2015, far less progress occurred in narrowing the gap between observed HAQ Index values and maximum levels achieved; at the global level, the difference between the observed and frontier HAQ Index only decreased from 21·2 in 1990 to 20·1 in 2015. If every country and territory had achieved the highest observed HAQ Index by their corresponding level of SDI, the global average would have been 73·8 in 2015. Several countries, particularly in eastern and western sub-Saharan Africa, reached HAQ Index values similar to or beyond their development levels, whereas others, namely in southern sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia, lagged behind what geographies of similar development attained between 1990 and 2015. Interpretation This novel extension of the GBD Study shows the untapped potential for personal health-care access and quality improvement across the development spectrum. Amid substantive advances in personal health care at the national level, heterogeneous patterns for individual causes in given countries or territories suggest that few places have consistently achieved optimal health-care access and quality across health-system functions and therapeutic areas. This is especially evident in middle-SDI countries, many of which have recently undergone or are currently experiencing epidemiological transitions. The HAQ Index, if paired with other measures of health-system characteristics such as intervention coverage, could provide a robust avenue for tracking progress on universal health coverage and identifying local priorities for strengthening personal health-care quality and access throughout the world. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This timely book presents the results of the Integration of the Second Generation in Europe survey that examines the experiences of residents of Stockholm who are descended from Turkish migrants
We analyze the distribution of transit subsidies across population groups in Stockholm. We develop a novel methodology that takes into account that the subsidy per passenger varies across transit ...links, since production costs and load factors vary. With this, we calculate the subsidy per trip in the transit network and analyze the distribution of subsidies across population groups. The average subsidy rate in Stockholm is 44%, but the variation across trips turns out to be large: while 34% of the trips are not subsidized at all but generates a profit, 16% of the trips have a subsidy rate higher than 2/3. We calculate the concentration index to explore the distribution of subsidies across income groups. The average subsidy per person is similar for all income groups, except for the top income quintile. This holds not only for the current flat-fare system, but also for distance-based fares and fares with a constant subsidy rate. Transit subsidies is hence not effective as a redistribution policy in Stockholm. The largest systematic variation we find is across residential areas: the average subsidy per person is five times higher in the peripheral areas of the region compared to the regional core, and the subsidy per trip is ten times higher.
•We analyze the distribution of transit subsidies across groups in Stockholm.•The average subsidy rate in Stockholm is 44%, but 34% of the trips generates a profit.•The concentration index shows that the transit subsidies are only mildly progressive.•The average subsidy per person is equal across income groups except the top quintile.•The subsidy per person is 5 times higher in the regional periphery than in the core.
In a record-linkage study in Stockholm, Sweden, the year 2011 prevalence of diagnosed autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was found to be 0.40, 1.74, 2.46, and 1.76 % among 0–5, 6–12, 13–17, and ...18–27 year olds, respectively. The corresponding proportion of cases with a recorded diagnosis of intellectual disability was 17.4, 22.1, 26.1 and 29.4 %. Between 2001 and 2011, ASD prevalence increased almost 3.5 fold among children aged 2–17 years. The increase was mainly accounted for by an eightfold increase of ASD without intellectual disability (from 0.14 to 1.10 %), while the prevalence of ASD with intellectual disability increased only slightly (from 0.28 to 0.34 %). The increase in ASD prevalence is likely contributed to by extrinsic factors such as increased awareness and diagnostics.
The Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) according to article 16 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) requires that POP laboratories must be capable – at any time – to analyse ...samples for POPs within a variation of ±25%. Based on this target error of 25%, a statistical model using z-scores was applied to assess the performance of analytical laboratories for POPs and a number of matrices. Since the second round of these ‘Bi-ennial Global Interlaboratory Assessment on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)’, carried out in 2012/2013, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been included into the proficiency tests. The third round was carried out in 2016/2017. The test materials included test solutions of PFASs analytical standards, the abiotic matrices sediment, air (extract) and water and the biotic matrices fish, human milk and human plasma. The number of laboratories submitting results for PFASs remained quite stable (IL2 = 27 laboratories; IL3 = 29), but there was broader geographic distribution observed in IL3: in addition to the laboratories from Asia and the Western Europe/other groups, two laboratories from Africa participated, two from Central-Eastern Europe and one from the Latin American/Caribbean region.
Considering that PFASs were introduced for the first time in round 2, the results were good to reasonable compared to those of a number of other POPs included in the same study. However, it shall also be mentioned that for some matrices and PFASs, the number of laboratories submitting results was too small and the results too scattered to derive a consensus value. This was especially true for the PFOS precursor compounds and the air matrix. Also, laboratories struggle with the analysis of the branched PFOS isomers.
These interlaboratory assessments on PFASs gave promising results and demonstrated the importance of proficiency tests in an international environment to generate trust in laboratory results. The need to participate regularly in such intercomparison assessments is highlighted. The results show the current level of PFAS analysis, which varies by laboratory and by matrix rather than per geographic region.
•Two rounds of interlaboratory assessments for PFASs gave excellent to reasonable performance.•Worldwide, almost 30 PFASs laboratories regularly participate in proficiency tests.•Excellent results for L-PFOS in test solutions, sediment and human milk.•Not much experience recognized on determination of branched PFOS.•Air samples still a problem for PFOS precursors.
Soils contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are an important source for impacting drinking water delivery systems and surface water bodies world-wide, posing an urgent risk to ...human health and environmental quality. However, few treatment techniques have been tested for PFAS-contaminated soil hotspots. This study investigated the possibility of thermal desorption as a possible technique to remediate soils contaminated with multiple PFASs. Two fortified soils (summation.sub.9 PFAS almost equal to 4 mg kg.sup.-1) and one field-contaminated soil (summation.sub.9 PFAS almost equal to 0.025 mg kg.sup.-1) were subjected to a 75-min thermal treatment at temperatures ranging from 150 to 550#176;C. Soil concentrations of PFASs showed a significant decrease at 350#176;C, with the summation.sub.9 PFAS concentration decreasing by, on average, 43% and 79% in the fortified and field contaminated soils, respectively. At 450#176;C, >99% of PFASs were removed from the fortified soils, while at 550#176;C the fraction removed ranged between 71 and 99% for the field contaminated soil. In the field contaminated soil, PFAS classes with functional groups of sulfonates (PFSAs) and sulfonamides (FOSAs) showed higher removal than the perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs). Thus thermal desorption has the potential to remove a wide variety of PFASs from soil, although more studies are needed to investigate the cost-effectiveness, creation of transformation products, and air-phase vacuum filtration techniques.
The long-term time trends of atmospheric pollutants at eight Arctic monitoring stations are reported. The work was conducted under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) of the Arctic ...Council. The monitoring stations were: Alert, Canada; Zeppelin, Svalbard; Stórhöfði, Iceland; Pallas, Finland; Andøya, Norway; Villum Research Station, Greenland; Tiksi and Amderma, Russia. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), α-endosulfan, chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) showed declining trends in air at all stations. However, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), one of the initial twelve POPs listed in the Stockholm Convention in 2004, showed either increasing or non-changing trends at the stations. Many POPs demonstrated seasonality but the patterns were not consistent among the chemicals and stations. Some chemicals showed winter minimum and summer maximum concentrations at one station but not another, and vice versa. The ratios of chlordane isomers and DDT species showed that they were aged residues. Time trends of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) were showing decreasing concentrations at Alert, Zeppelin and Andøya. The Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern (CEAC) were either showing stable or increasing trends. These include methoxychlor, perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol, and C9-C11 perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs). We have demonstrated the importance of monitoring CEAC before they are being regulated because model calculations to predict their transport mechanisms and fate cannot be made due to the lack of emission inventories. We should maintain long-term monitoring programmes with consistent data quality in order to evaluate the effectiveness of chemical control efforts taken by countries worldwide.
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•Time trends of organic pollutants in air were analyzed at eight Arctic sites.•Many Stockholm Convention-regulated chemicals are decreasing or not changing in air.•Seasonal cycles of pollutants showed variability with location of the sampling site.•Levels of emerging chemicals were scattered with non-changing or increasing trends.
•A two-part train traffic emission factors model is built.•The model could predict the PM10 level at a railway station platform in a tunnel.•The two terms in this model are brake effect term and ...accumulative effect term.•The relationship between PM10 and train frequency in both terms is linear.•The two terms equally affect the PM10 level at train station platforms.
In 2017 a new railway tunnel containing two stations opened in Stockholm, Sweden. A series of field measurements were carried out on the platforms in this tunnel before and after it was opened for normal traffic. These measurements were used to investigate the contribution of airborne particle emissions from wear processes to total train emissions. This field data was used to develop a two-part train traffic emission factor model for PM10. The two parts are the accumulative effect term (relating to operating distance such as wheel-rail contact and overhead electric line sliding contact) and a brake effect term (relating to the number of braking operations such as brake disc and brake pad contact). The results show that operating a single trial train at a higher than normal frequency on an otherwise empty platform increases the platform particulate concentration until the concentration reaches a steady value. The model suggests that brake emissions account for about 50% of the total emissions measured in the tunnels.
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