Air Pollution in Metropolitan Cities: Emerging Trends, Health Burden, and Pathways to Clean Air

Urban air pollution imposes a massive and largely preventable burden of disease in India's metropolitan regions.Rapid migration, motorization, industrial expansion, and construction have escalated emissions, while seasonal patterns (e.g., winter stagnation, agricultural residue burning) amplify pollutant build-up.Recent studies confirm that both short-term spikes and long-term exposures to PM., NO, ozone, and other pollutants significantly raise risks of cardiovascular disease, respiratory morbidity, cancers, adverse perinatal outcomes, and neurological/metabolic disorders.Digital tools (AI/ML forecasting, low-cost sensors, geospatial compliance monitoring) are emerging in India as scalable supports for intervention.This review describes the current metropolitan airpollution landscape in India, elaborates on the biological and epidemiologic evidence of harm, and systematically outlines strategies to reduce emissions and exposure at the individual, organizational, and policy levels.For each strategy, we discuss rationale, implementation considerations, and challenges, with attention to equity, climate co-benefits, and digital innovation.