What is a land use regression model?

A breakdown of a popular, statistical air pollution modelling method.

Cover image courtesy of Flanagan E, Mattisson K, Walles J, Abera A, Eriksson A, Balidemaj F, Oudin A, Isaxon C and Malmqvist E (2021) Air Pollution and Urban Green Space: Evidence of Environmental Injustice in Adama, Ethiopia. Front. Sustain. Cities 3:728384. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2021.728384

Introduction

Remote sensing data are increasingly being used in land use regression models. Therefore, I thought it would be prudent to write an article explaining the high-level concepts of this model, along with its origins. Land use regression models have become very popular in air pollution research. They provide a practicable alternative to dynamic or dispersion models, as they require significantly less data and a shorter computing time. A quick search of the term on Google Scholar will reveal hundreds of these studies in different areas across the world.