The continuous increase of urban sprawl, especially in a context of global change, makes it urgent to promote the sustainability of these areas. Point and diffuse pollution are some of the major threats to urban ecosystems, affecting their ecological functions and posing risks to living organisms, including to humans.

Particularly, diffuse pollution (e.g. the transport, deposition and redistribution of contaminants), which is normally characterized by continuous and long-term emission of contaminants below risk levels, is problematic in urban areas. This results in the degradation of the urban critical zone from the atmosphere to soils and organisms. Less attention has however been given to processes favoring the transfer of contaminants between the various compartments of the urban ecosystems as well as to their effects on environment and human health.

In this context, the aim of this Research Topic is to contribute to:
i) The knowledge about the processes associated with contaminants movement, deposition and transformation in the urban critical zone; ii) A deeper understanding about the potential risks to human health, including how human behaviors and urban practices modify the hazards;
iii) Understand the effects of diffuse pollution on urban environmental ecosystem services and functions;
iv) Observe how and why the transfer of contaminants affect differently the urban areas and participate to foster social inequalities related to the environment.

Considering these aims, this Research Topic welcomes manuscripts addressing the following topics:

i) Processes of contaminant transfer in the urban critical zone.
ii) Impacts of pollutants in the urban ecosystem, including on living organisms and humans.
iii) Transfer of contaminants, differentiated social impact on urban areas, environmental (in)justice.
iv) More accurate methods to estimate risks (both ecological and human health) and better understand the complexity of urban ecosystems, including interdisciplinary methods between experimental and social sciences.

We welcome the following Article Types: Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Review, Hypothesis and Theory and Perspective.

Submit your idea

Impact

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Participating Journals

Impact