Hello everyone! As with every series in our blog, this post will be a summary of what we’ve discussed with regards to light and noise pollution, and will hopefully shed some light on a way forward.
Two unexpected sources of pollution
As usual, we began our series with an introduction to light and sound as forms of pollution to allow us to wrap our heads around the idea that two of the most ubiquitous elements in our everyday urban lives can be considered forms of pollution in their very own right. From introducing the three types of light pollution – skyglow, spill light, and glare – to discussing the ways in which noise can become pollutive – through both the content as well as the level of noise – and eventually revealing the negative impacts of light and noise on our health, we firmly established their harmfulness and pollutive capabilities.
As we went into our case studies, we threw tourism into the mix, whereby we discussed light pollution from touristic activities – specifically light shows in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore that like to market themselves for their night-time cityscape. In the case of noise pollution, we brought in two case studies: one was from India, in which tourists generate noise pollution for local populations, and the other was from a holiday village in Turkey, whereby the entire compound was found to be noisy and detrimental to holiday-goers within the village itself.
Innovating the future
After the case studies, we progressed to innovative solutions to tackle both forms of pollution (the previous post). For light pollution, we explored how the tourism industry could turn the conventional concept of light as a positive element on its head by embracing the idea of creating tourist activities based on the need for a lack of light; for noise pollution, we discussed noise-cancelling technologies (specifically, in fountains) that could very well be applied into larger contexts and more extensively in tourist areas, or areas that are regularly affected by nearby tourist crowds.
As the world continues to seek to urbanise and modernise, it is perhaps time to interrogate our long-held concepts that light is an indicator of development, and that noise is a common element in our lives that we have to live with – especially considering how it has been well-researched that both light and sound can do damage to our health. If, as tourists, we can choose to collectively express our preferences in wanting to visit places that are not polluted by light nor noise (as well as becoming more conscious in our daily lives), we truly believe that it might just create a revolutionary change in the way the world – especially the developed, urbanised world – views its relationship with light and sound.
No longer will bright lights be seen as attractive and “characteristic” of modern cities, and neither will excessive levels of noise be treated as something “naturally” generated that locals have to “naturally” deal with. There is nothing “natural” about excess – neither excessive light, nor excessive noise.
As we head into the last stretch of our blog, we’ll be closing the blog with our take on the future of tourism, before signing off each (Emily and Joanna). We hope you’ve enjoyed the blog so far, and do stick around with us for the final few posts!