Ventilating Beijing cannot fix pollution 

 Yansui Liu,Yang Zhou & Yurui Li. Ventilating Beijing cannot fix pollution. Nature 532, 441 (28 April 2016) doi:10.1038/532441c

Beijing plans to build a system of ventilation corridors across the city to help dissipate heat and smog (see go.nature.com/ cgbd7i). We suggest that a more comprehensive solution is needed to tackle the scale and complexity of Beijing’s severe air pollution.

In our view, the city’s situation in a valley ringed by mountains — combined with the fall in average winter wind speed over the past decades (Z. Li et al. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 28, 408–420; 2011) — is likely to reduce the effectiveness of these corridors, particularly in winter, when smog is most severe. The prevailing northwesterly winter wind could also propel dangerous particulate matter and other pollutants along the corridors to the south of the city, where the wind gradually weakens and so is less effective at dispersal (X. He et al. Build. Environ. 92, 668–678; 2015).

Measures to control air pollution need to address causes as well as symptoms. Industrial structures, energy inefficiency, the pursuit of economic growth and the extent of regional cooperation all contribute (Y. Liu et al. Nature 517, 145; 2015). These must eventually be brought into line through integrated, scientifically informed planning.

Yansui Liu, Yang Zhou, Yurui Li Beijing Normal University；and Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

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                   http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v532/n7600/full/532441c.html