Environmental Interventions and Air Pollution (Re)distribution in Delhi, India

Delhi became an exemplary city by instituting radical environmental interventions to improve air quality between 2000 and 2002. This included introduction of compressed natural gas (CNG) and closure of polluting industries. However, areas outside Delhi (but adjacent to Delhi’s border) did not institute similar interventions. This paper examines spatial (re)distribution of air pollution and its association with land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes in and around Delhi before and after these interventions. While the central parts of Delhi experienced an improvement in air quality, areas bordering Delhi experienced a significant deterioration in air quality after the interventions. This research suggests that air pollution is likely to (re)distribute if the environmental interventions are enforced uniformly in and around large cities.