The Relationship Between Spatial Patterns of Urban Land Uses and Air Pollutants in the Tehran Metropolis, Iran

Abstract Context: Urban expansion has led to land use changes in metropolises, which in turn cause landscape pattern changes and intensive ecological issues in urban areas. Objective: The main objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between different land use patterns and air pollutants (NO2, SO2, CO, O3) in the metropolis of Tehran. Method:The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme and Landsat 8 satellite images were used to extract urban land uses in Tehran. Additionally, Sentinel-5P satellite images were used to calculate and evaluate air pollutants in summer (2020) and winter (2021).Then, the relationship between the spatial composition and configuration of urban land uses and air pollutants was computed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression in summer 2020 and winter 2021.Results: The results indicate that the distribution or concentration of air pollutants is different from the spatial pattern of land use. The spatial composition and configuration of man-made land uses, including the classes of compact mid-rise, compact low-rise, large low-rise, and heavy industry, had a positive correlation with NO2 and SO2 (Sig<0/038). In contrast, the pollutant CO had a significant negative correlation with the green spaces of types A (dense trees) (Sig: 0/004, (99%)) and B (scattered trees) (Sig: 0/034, (95%)). Conversely, the spatial composition and configuration of man-made land uses had a negative correlation with O3 (Sig<0/047) while had a positive correlation with green spaces (Sig<0/047). Conclusion: The obtained results show that quantitative analysis can help to develop more complex strategies and scenarios in future research.