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Many cities and urban centers around the world experience high air pollution episodes attributable to increased anthropogenic alterations of natural environmental systems. World Health Organization estimates indicate strong exceedances of prescribed limits in developing countries. However, the evidence on local pollution measures is limited for such cities and Uganda is no exception. Informed by the practical realities of air quality monitoring, this paper employs a low-cost approach using passive and active monitors to obtain characterization of pollution levels based on particulate matter 2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone over a six-month period (starting in December 2018) for selected urban centers in three of the four macro-regions in Uganda. This is the first attempt to comprehensively assess pollution levels at a near-national level in Uganda. A combination of distributed stationary monitors and mobile monitors installed on motorcycle taxis (boda-boda) was employed in selected parishes to obtain spatiotemporal variations in the pollutant concentrations. The results suggest that seasonal particulate levels heavily depend on precipitation patterns with a strong inverse relation, which further corroborates the need for longer monitoring periods to reflect actual seasonal variations. Informed by the observed level of data completeness and quality in all the monitoring scenarios, the paper highlights the practicability and potential of a low-cost approach to air quality monitoring and the potential to use this information to inform citizens.

Air Pollution --- Air Quality and Clean Air --- Air Quality Monitoring --- Brown Issues and Health --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Environment --- Mobile Technology --- Nitrogen Dioxide Emission --- Ozone --- Particulate Matter --- Pollutant Concentration --- Pollution Management and Control --- Seasonal Variation --- Spatiotemporal Variation --- Urban Air Quality --- Urban Development --- Urban Environment

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This paper surveys the recent literature exploring the causes of urban pollution in the developing world and the implications of such pollution for a city's competitiveness. Within a system of cities, cities compete for jobs and people. Those cities that specialize in heavy industrial activity will gain from a manufacturing boom but are more likely to be polluted than a city that specializes in the service economy and one that makes investments in regulations to reduce the social costs of power generation, transportation, and household services. The paper explores three main questions. First, why does pollution inhibit urban competitiveness? Second, why is this effect likely to grow in importance over time? Third, why have cities been slow to adopt cost-effective regulatory strategies?

City Development Strategy --- Environment --- Environmental Sustainability --- Pollution --- Pollution Management --- Urban Development --- Urban Environment --- Urbanization

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Today, over 4 billion people around the world-more than half the global population-live in cities. By 2050, with the urban population more than doubling its current size, nearly 7 of 10 people in the world will live in cities. Evidence from today's developed countries and rapidly emerging economies shows that urbanization and the development of cities is a source of dynamism that can lead to enhanced productivity. In fact, no country in the industrial age has ever achieved significant economic growth without urbanization. The underlying driver of this dynamism is the ability of cities to bring people together. Social and economic interactions are the hallmark of city life, making people more productive and often creating a vibrant market for innovations by entrepreneurs and investors. International evidence suggests that the elasticity of income per capita with respect to city population is between 3 percent and 8 percent (Rosenthal and Strange 2003). Each doubling of city size raises its productivity by 5 percent. But the coronavirus pandemic is now seriously limiting social interactions. With no vaccine available, prevention through containment and social distancing, along with frequent handwashing, appear to be, for now, the only viable strategies against the virus. The goal is to slow transmission and avoid overwhelming health systems that have finite resources. Hence non-essential businesses have been closed and social distancing measures, including lockdowns, are being applied in many countries. Will such measures defeat the virus in dense urban areas? In principle, yes. Wealthier people in dense neighborhoods can isolate themselves while having amenities and groceries delivered to them. Many can connect remotely to work, and some can even afford to live without working for a time. But poorer residents of crowded neighborhoods cannot afford such luxuries. They are forced to leave their home every day to go to work, buy groceries, and do laundry. This is especially true in low-income neighborhoods of developing countries - many of which are slums and informal settlements. In fact, 60 percent of Africa's urban population is packed into slums - a far larger share than the average 34 percent seen in other developing countries (United Nations 2015). With people tightly packed together, the resulting crowding increases contagion risk from the coronavirus.

Communicable Diseases --- Demographics --- Disease Control and Prevention --- Hazard Risk Management --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Public Health Promotion --- Urban Development --- Urban Health