Comparative Diagnosis of the Urban Noise Problem from Infrastructural and Social Sensing Approaches: A Case Study in Ningbo, China.

Yutian Si,Xiao Peng,Aihan Liu,Liyan Xu

doi:10.3390/ijerph19052809

Abstract

Urban noise causes a variety of health problems, and its prevention and control have thus become an important research topic in urban governance. Although existing literature is fairly comprehensive in revealing the physical noise patterns, it lacks the concern of people’s perceived seriousness, especially at the macroscopic, i.e., citywide scale. In this paper, we borrow from the “exposure-perception-behavior” theory in environmental psychology, and propose an analytical framework for diagnosing the urban noise problem that integrates the Infrastructural and Social Sensing perspectives. Utilizing noise monitoring data that fills the spatiotemporal granularity gaps of official noise monitoring, as well as the “12345” urban complaint hotline records which serve as a proxy for residents’ perceived noise levels, we empirically examine the mechanisms for physical magnitude and perceived seriousness of urban noise, respectively, by taking the Jiangbei District of Ningbo City, China as an example. Results show that the existence of perceptual bias and behavioral preference effects did shape people’s perceived noise problem map that is vastly different from that of the physical noise magnitude, in which the semantics of urban places, temporal rhythms of life, and population demographics significantly influenced people’s tolerance of noise. We conclude the paper with suggestions on updating the existing National Standard for urban noise regulation to reflect the perceptual aspect, and also methodological discussions on possible ways to recognize and utilize the perceptual bias in social-sensing big-data to better accommodate urban governance.

Highlights

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralNoise poses numerous threats to people’s physical and psychological health and is an intrinsic part of environmental pollution [1]
The number of the “12345” noise complaints was much higher at night than during the day, 310 and
We find specific factors that might contribute to the soar of noise complaints, such as people of certain age groups or urban places of certain land-use types, which are in accordance with the “common sense”

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralNoise poses numerous threats to people’s physical and psychological health and is an intrinsic part of environmental pollution [1]. The problem of noise pollution is acute in cities of developing countries due to their limited urban governance capacity [2–5]. Environmental Quality Standard (GB 3096-2008) [7] (National Standard ) of urban noise has been low. The various negative effects of urban noise have prompted extensive research in the field of built environment. In terms of noise governance, there is an abundance of studies on noise reduction technologies, management strategies, and noise source control at small and medium scales [11–14]. Based on these academic progresses, with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion