Adaptive reuse and its impacts on the acoustical environment and public health of community residents: the case of Fenway, Boston, MA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article assesses the acoustical impacts to the environment in an urban neighborhood when a sports stadium is repurposed for live concerts. Various sound metrics were recorded with acoustic octave band analyzers on residential rooftops in one week intervals across multiple sites in the Fenway neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts during a range of Fenway Park activities from March to September 2019. Analyses of sound level predictors were conducted to quantify the relative impact of different Fenway activities. Live concerts are significantly (p < 0.05) louder than other stadium activities across almost all sound metrics when adjusting for other relevant sources of sound, on average adding 4 dBA to the acoustical environment and with larger contributions at closer proximity to the stadium. Adaptive reuse of a baseball stadium to include live concerts led to a significant increase in noise levels in the surrounding community, which may impact the mental and physical health of neighborhood residents. These impacts may be more severe on the neighborhood’s most vulnerable residents. Our study reinforces the importance of monitoring multiple sound level metrics at numerous locations, with statistical methods to disentangle source contributions, in order to best capture the impact of changing use patterns on community noise exposures.