Identifying Key Sources of City Air Quality: A Hybrid MCDM Model and Improvement Strategies

Featured Application A systematic and combined approach to assess air pollution factors and generate managing strategies. Improvements for air quality were prioritized according to gaps between criteria. Existing improvement strategies for air quality often focus on a single criterion, without considering associations among criteria. Moreover, solutions are often temporary, failing to provide long-term improvement. Therefore, this study employed a multiple-criteria decision-making model and a substitution method based on causal relationships to analyze potential improvement strategies for air quality in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Results revealed that coal-fired power plants and factory emissions are the major sources of pollution in Kaohsiung. This study suggests that environmental authorities in Kaohsiung should facilitate plants to improve energy efficiency with anti-pollution facilities.