Greetings urban dwellers! In this final article on noise pollution, I will be concluding it with existing measures to tackle urban noise pollution and provide a brief evaluation to the respective solutions.

The United States National Prevention Strategy (NPS) has acknowledged the harms behind noise pollution and has taken action to reduce noise pollution as a whole. One of the interventions include altering the built environment to minimise exposure and also contain the noise produced in the urban sphere. The NPS recommends building designs that promote better noise insulation and absorption. This will prevent both incoming noise from the public and also outgoing sounds within the private domains. This has been effective because it is not an expensive measure and there has success in this measure. In the process of reducing the exposure to noise, this solution does not resolve the source of the noise as it only allow certain households with newer infrastructures to enjoy this benefit. Furthermore, scholars have argued that this solution is inequitable because while recipients of noise continue to be burdened, the producers of said noise are not incentivised to resolve the noise generated.

Another solution on the individual level is to undergo temporary relocation. During festivities and events where crowds of tourists and outsiders enter the city, they contribute significantly to noise pollution, even after dusk. This becomes a problem as locals are not able to get sufficient rest to prepare for the following day. As a makeshift measure, they seek external accommodations away from the festivities. For instance, during the 10-day festival of Ganesh Chaturthi 2021, many travel to Hyderabad, India, to celebrate. Despite the ban of loudspeakers, pilgrims continue to abuse it to spread festival cheer of the birth of their deity. As a result, many locals were forced to relocate to hotels and extended families’ residences temporarily to avoid the noise. However, for individuals that are geographically immobile, they are unable to escape from the noise produced, hence exposing themselves to noise pollution.

The congregation of pilgrims during Ganesh Chaturthi 2021 at Hyderabad, India (https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/200921/residents-relocate-to-escape-from-noise-pollution-on-final-day-of-imme.html)

There are many other measures implemented around the world to tackle noise pollution in cities. But similar to many other forms of urban pollution, there is no clear answer to this LOUD yet intangible form of pollution. As a first step, individuals like you and I must learn and acknowledge the severity of noise pollution before we can take more steps to resolve this issue.

You Live in Urban, You Fight for Urban

Your metropollution warrior,

BriChua

References:

Hammer, M. S., Swinburn, T. K., & Neitzel, R. L. (2014). Environmental noise pollution in the United States: Developing an effective public health response. Environmental Health Perspectives, 122(2), 115–119. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307272