ABSTRACT Global population growth has led to an increase of the number of people living in urban areas . As a consequence , stresses on space , ecosystems , infrastructures , facilities and personal lifestyles have been enhanced . Problems related to the quality of life in cities are increasingly relevant , especially with regard to environmental issues . Domestic and industrial sources and , primarily , motorised traffic are responsible for pollutant emissions and noise that decisively affect life in modern cities . In this context , evaluating and monitoring urban environmental quality has become an important issue for decision making and planning of more liveable and sustainable cities . Computational simulation models for the phenom ena associated with emission and propagation of noise and dispersion of air pollutants were applied within a GIS platform to generate maps of noise and pollutant concentrations . This paper presents an urban environmental quality index : City Noise - Air . In case either one of the environmental condi tions ( pollutants or noise level ) exceeds the accepted limit , the City Noise - Air index will reflect that exceedance and thus equals zero ( red ) . If there is no limit violation , then City Noise - Air incorporates all of the selected conditions into an overall quality index by a multi - criteria combination that allows trade - offs . A case study is presented for Viana do Castelo , a mid - sized Portuguese city , in which City Noise Air values were calculated taking in consideration the noise level ( Lden ) and the concentrations of CO , NO2 , O3 , C6H6 and PM 10 .
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