Urban cemeteries on a global scale raise concerns due to their potential to concentrate differing levels of hazardous pollutants in their native soils due to the unnatural concentration of burials in a limited space. It is paramount for sustainability that designers of future cemeteries take this into account in order to minimize the deposition and movement of these contaminants within the soil profile. The objective of this manuscript is to identify the levels of certain hazardous element contamination, specifically heavy metals, in the soil of horizontal urban cemeteries that do not utilize herbicides for weed control. In this, solutions were sought for the construction of future urban cemeteries capable of mitigating further contamination of the environment by the increase in interments. The soils of three urban cemeteries (A, B and C) in the Brazilian city of Carazinho, in Rio Grande do Sul State, were sampled with 5 monitoring points in the internal area and 5 points in the external area of the cemeteries. At each point, 3 replications were performed at two depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm), totaling 180 samples in all, to determine the concentration of the following metals: copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) (g kg-1). In addition, online interviews with 15 architects who design cemeteries were conducted. Architectural design solutions to mitigate environmental contamination were modeled utilizing the Building Information Modeling system (BIM). The results showed an excess of Cu in the soil of cemeteries A, B and C, surpassing the standards allowed by Brazilian federal regulations. A total of 80% of the interviewed architects expressed their preference for the vertical cemetery, with gas and effluent treatment systems to mitigate environmental impacts.

Historic buildings that comprise the cultural heritage of humanity are in need of preservation on a worldwide scale in regard to degradation resultant from atmospheric pollutants. The Brazilian Public Market, located in the historic center of the mega city of Sao Paulo, is the object of this research, due to its representation of historical Brazilian architecture. The general objective of this manuscript is to analyze the influence of air pollutants on the degradation of the historic Sao Paulo Public Market in the city of Sao~ Paulo, Brazil. Methodologically, between May 2018 and April 2019, samples of sedimented dust were collected at five points on the side walls of the market's historic structure, for the analysis of accumulated ultrafine particles (UFPs) and nanoparticles (NPs). A total of 20 samples of particulate matter were collected using self-made passive samplers (SMPSs). Using SMPSs, 12 months of accumulation and deposition were used to sample the atmospheric PM1. The results demonstrate the presence of dangerous elements such as: As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn. Note that EDS coupled with microscopy techniques, points out the risks to human health, due to the presence of these dangerous elements that accumulate in the building's structure. The results show that 85% of the NPs sampled contained Pb, and 56% contained Pb and Ti, which are harmful to both historic buildings and human health. Air pollution enables the further deterioration of the Sao Paulo Public Market, which is in need of restoration.

Urban centers concentrate high levels of atmospheric pollutants, sourced by vehicular traffic, public transit systems, industrial emissions and agricultural emissions. This leads to the accumulation of gases and particulate matter (PM) which contribute to the degradation of historic buildings. Considering the importance of preserving historic structures, this manuscript examines the analysis of dangerous elements on the facades of two historic, UNESCO listed sites in Bordeaux, France, Grosse Cloche and Cathédrale St-André, due to the multiple influences of atmospheric pollutants, responsible for the degradation of historic buildings, in addition to causing possible compromises to human health. A total of 48 samples of particulate matter were collected between June 2018 and May 2019 using self-made passive samplers (SMPSs). Sedimented dust samples were collected from the same locations at the same time, one collection during each of the 4 seasons of the year. Analyses of accumulated ultrafine particles (UFPs) and nanoparticles (NPs) were performed on the collected samples. The results detected the presence of more than 800 organic NPs with high levels of toxic elements. Of these, 78% were detected in samples obtained via SMPS and the others in sedimented dust. 60% were shown to have a diameter of less than 50 nm. The authors suggest restoring the sampled historical structures for the benefit of humanity, in addition to increasing the rigor of public policies to control the release of particulate matter.

Graphical abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The analysis of satellite images is of fundamental importance in relation to understanding the evolution in land use. The general objective of this study is to analyze the changes in characteristics of rural land use in the municipality of Carazinho (RS) from 2001 to 2020 through the analysis of images taken from the Landsat TM-7 and TM-8 satellites. The TM-7 and TM-8 satellite images were classified and supervised, thus generation thematic maps with the following groups: tillage, forest, water resources and exposed soil. The analysis of this study showed that in 2001 the tillage group had an area of 10,651.6 ha, the forest group had an area of 7,248.03 ha, the water resources group occupied an area of 1,444.96 ha, and the exposed soil group occupied an area of 6,798.75 ha. When using the images taken in 2020, the same area presented the following data: the tillage group with an area of 15,941.5 ha. (60.95%), the forest group with an area of 4,320.99 ha (16.52%), water resources group with an area of 141.02 ha (0.53%), and the exposed soil group with an area of 5,747.22 ha (21.97%). The results demonstrate changes in land use during the study period, mainly with regard to the increase of cultivation areas and, consequently, the suppression of vegetation.

The effect of global climate change on the temperature of urban areas has become more pronounced in the past couple decades, impacting population and quality of life. The United Nations (UN), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have emphasized the impact of urban structures on microclimatic. A better understanding of these effects is important to formulate effective strategies that would contribute to address the impacts of increased urban growth. Here we address a case study of the Vila Rodrigues neighborhood, located in Passo Fundo City in southern Brazil to analyze the variations of emissivity, temperature and vegetation of the terrestrial surface, with influence of buildings. We employ Landsat satellite images, and unpublished data provided by the NASA, interpolated and classified in the QGIS software, using Bands 4, 5 and 10, converted to Gray Level (NC). This procedure allowed the spectral radiance of the reflectance temperature to be obtained. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used, with correction of emissivity and spectral error, in the identification of the surface temperature of different areas in the Villa Rodrigues. The results showed a total variation of 3.86ºC among the sampled points, which is increased by the difference in significance of the thermal balance in urban areas under open sky with buildings. We suggest that green areas and parks with abundant vegetative cover and the application of new building materials in future constructions would help to improve the urban climate, and such regulation of the local temperature on global scale is an effective step towards addressing the adverse effects from climate change.