City Talks: The rising threat of air pollution in cities – and how to fight back

More than 90% of the world's population is exposed to air pollutant concentrations exceeding World Health Organisation guideline levels, while globally four-and-a-half million people died prematurely from particle and ozone pollution in 2015.  While air pollution is a problem in both rural and urban areas, particular types of pollutants tend to be more concentrated in cities. And as more and more of the population shifts to living in cities, an ever greater proportion of people are living closer to pollution sources.

Why don’t we understand air pollution better? And how have we allowed it to build to the crisis we have today?

To answer these questions, Andrew Carter is joined by Gary Fuller who is Senior Lecturer in Air Pollution Measurement at Kings College London, a leader of the London Air Quality Network and the author of a brilliant, if somewhat scary, book entitled The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution - and How We Can Fight Back

Dr. Fuller challenges common misconceptions around what creates air pollution and how it's measured and argues that to change the future of our planet and collective global health, both city-level and national government action are essential.

This episode is part of the Centre for Cities City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.