@article{Cappelli:309920, recid = {309920}, author = {Cappelli, Federica and Guastella, Gianni and Pareglio, Stefano }, title = {Urban Sprawl and Air Quality in European Cities: an Empirical Assessment}, address = {2021-03-16}, number = {2395-2021-959}, series = {7.2021}, pages = {21}, month = {Mar}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In this paper we estimate the relationship between urban sprawl and a measure of air quality, namely the number of days in which the PM10 concentration exceeds safeguard limits in European Union cities. Building on a multidimensional representation of sprawl, the paper employs several indicators to account for built-up area development, population density, and residential discontinuity. The paper employs generalised additive models to disentangle the non-linear effects in the variables and the interaction effects of the three sprawl dimensions. A significant and robust effect of urban morphology emerges after controlling for socio-economic, demographic, and climatic factors and the geographical location of the city. We find that urban sprawl impacts positively on pollutant concentration, but the effect is highly context-specific because of threshold effects and interactions.}, url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/309920}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.309920}, }