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Air Quality Expert Advises Urban Planners to Think `Fuzzy`
December 07, 2001Housing and traffic should be kept separate by urban environmental planning claims Professor Bernard Fisher of the National Centre for Risk Assessment and Options Appraisals. In a recent lecture at the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), Fisher stated that even an extra 10 meters distance could make a real difference to resident’s pollution exposure levels.
Professor Fisher made his remarks while delivering the SCI Environment Medal Lecture Environmental Criteria: Uses and Abuses, after being awarded the SCI Environment Medal in recognition of his contributions to air quality management.
In his medal lecture, Professor Fisher explained that decision makers and the public need to accept that air quality management strategies will be based on readings and conclusions that are inherently uncertain. Despite the thoroughness and care with which they are taken, measurement techniques cannot give finite conclusions. Professor Fisher calls this imperfect knowledge ‘fuzzy numbers’ or ‘fuzzy sets’. He quoted Air Quality Management areas, with their lack of sharp, definable boundaries, as an ideal example of the concept of this measuring technique. This uncertainty of measurement contributes to the difficulty in setting environmental standards.
Professor Fisher also suggested that we move to measurement of personal exposure to pollution, rather than the current method of general exposure to give a more accurate localised picture of air quality levels across the UK.
An international expert on air pollution, air quality and acid rain, Bernard Fisher developed the long-range transport model that the UK power industry uses to assess the impact of its emissions - work that demonstrated the link between sulphur dioxide emissions in the UK and acid rain in Northern European countries.
Professor Fisher’s career has encompassed roles in industry, academia and regulatory bodies. He has published over 40 research papers on air pollution modelling and the interpretation of air pollution measurements, and has acted as the UK expert to a number of high profile European air pollution programmes.
Society of Chemical Industry
An international expert on air pollution, air quality and acid rain, Bernard Fisher developed the long-range transport model that the UK power industry uses to assess the impact of its emissions - work that demonstrated the link between sulphur dioxide emissions in the UK and acid rain in Northern European countries.
Professor Fisher’s career has encompassed roles in industry, academia and regulatory bodies. He has published over 40 research papers on air pollution modelling and the interpretation of air pollution measurements, and has acted as the UK expert to a number of high profile European air pollution programmes.
Society of Chemical Industry
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