Comparing Mobility-Based PM(2.5) Concentrations and Activity Satisfaction in Beijing between 2012 and 2017

Although the negative effect of air pollution on life satisfaction has been examined in many studies, comparative analyses of mobility-based exposures to air pollution and momentary wellbeing have been rare to date, despite the fact that they are essential to improve wellbeing. Drawing on individuals’ space–time trajectories of two surveys conducted in 2012 and 2017 in Beijing, we investigate the temporal variations in activity satisfaction and mobility-based air pollution from monitoring stations and real-time air pollutant sensors, respectively. Furthermore, we explore how mobility-based air pollution dynamically influences activity satisfaction. The results show that air quality in Beijing improved from 2012 to 2017, and activity satisfaction increased as well. The negative relationship between them is more significant on workdays but insignificant on weekends. Moreover, real-time air pollution data show higher accuracy than monitor-based data, which suggests that future studies should pay more attention to real-time air pollution assessments.