Explaining urban vehicle emissions in Rome

Urban emissions are a significant challenge for city livability. Our work focuses on studying vehicle emissions in cities, using spatial and non-spatial models to understand their relationships with various urban features. We find that the spatial model demonstrates better performance and provides powerful insights into the influence of different predictors in various city areas. Our findings reveal that CO2 emissions in Rome are primarily linked to the presence of main arterial roads, population density, and road network density. However, the importance of these factors varies across different areas of the city. We also performed a what-if analysis to show that limiting the circulation of highly polluting vehicles may help reduce emissions, especially in city centres. Our research contributes to a better understanding of the complex relationships between the urban environment and the spatial variability of vehicle emissions in Rome.