AIR QUALITY IN THE CITY OF NIŠ: CITIZEN PERCEPTION AND OBJECTIVE INDICATORS

Abstract

Currently, air pollution is one of the most significant environmental issues and it can be considered as an important etiological and contributory factor for the development of phenomena and processes leading to environmental degradation and conditions for the development of respiratory, cardiovascular, and malignant diseases, as well as other defined or undefined pathological conditions in the exposed population of urban areas. Therefore, it is necessary to implement organized air quality monitoring and make available the timely, clear, and adequate public information about air pollution levels in order to prevent and/or mitigate the effects of potential risks. This paper uses the data on air quality in Niš and analyses the perception and degree of informedness of the citizens of Niš about air quality. For that purpose, we conducted a survey on 121 respondents at three locations, which were designated in previous studies as zones with measured or predicted high pollutant concentrations in ambient air. Using descriptive and nonparametric statistics, we learned that citizens assess their informedness as poor and limited, but that they properly perceive environmental issues in the city. In their opinion, air pollution is the most important environmental issue in the city as a whole and in their specific areas of residence, which correlates with the official data on the level of air pollution.

Key words: air pollution, informedness, City of Niš, perception of air quality