ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on air quality and land use perspectives on sustainable development, with an emphasis upon interrelationships among air quality, land use and physical sustainability. The quality of ambient air is subject to the effects of meteorology, natural cleansing actions and atmospheric chemical reactions and conversions. In California, due to the limited natural assimilative capacity of the atmosphere for air pollutants, ambient air quality problems are severe. California's land use patterns render residents predominately motor vehicle dependent. Transportation control measures (TCMs) seek to reduce motor vehicle trips, particularly those taken by a single occupant to a single destination and return. TCMs such as employer trip reduction rules, parking management ordinances and restrictions on vehicle operations fall within the authority of air districts and cities and counties. An overwhelming number of counties and cities in California have adopted trip reduction ordinances to increase use of mass transit, carpooling and telecommuting for commuters.
