In this final entry, I will be delving into a research paper that addresses uneven noise pollution in Berlin, Germany from the angle of environmental justice. In Western European cities, noise pollution is recognised as a key source of environmental stress in relation to human health (Lakes et al., 2014).  As the capital of Germany, Berlin has a population of around 3,400,000 inhabitants situated within 800 kilometres square, with residential…

Living in a world that exposes us to a cacophony of noise, many of us are becoming increasingly aware of the detrimental impacts of environmental noise in our urban landscapes. Yet, only a few would consider the social inequalities embedded in environmental noise pollution.  Noise can further accentuate social health inequalities through its unequal levels and distributions of exposure between socioeconomic groups, with those perceived to be of lower socio-economic…

As mentioned in the previous entry, the stress, hearing loss and disruption to everyday activities associated with Guangchang Wu’s deafeningly loud music has caused quite a hullabaloo amongst nearby residents. With the lack of targeted measures in place to tackle the root cause of this issue, I would like to explore some possible solutions that could address the noise problem more effectively.  With the insufficient supply of green and public…

Despite the establishment of noise regulations in China, Guangchang Wu (square dancing in Mandarin) still seems to be a prominent activity that many elderly dancers engage in, disrupting the everyday lives of residents with their deafeningly loud music (Zhang, 2021). But why is that the case? Perhaps it’s time for us to look into some of the underlying issues surrounding this local problem. In 1997, the Law of Prevention of…

Across public squares, parks, and plazas in China, groups of older women congregate in the early hours of the morning, late afternoon, or night to dance together to Chinese music (Davidson, 2021; Kirkpatrick, 2015). Every day, tens of millions of “dancing grannies” participate in Guangchang Wu (square dancing in Mandarin) as a way to experience community  (Xiao and Hilton, 2019). With Guangchang Wu known to be a physical exercise that…

As many of us (safely) go about our yearly Chinese New Year visitations, collect our long-awaited ang baos (red envelopes) and indulge in our favourite new year goodies, we may have noticed the relative quietness of this year’s celebrations.  With the current prevailing Safe Management Measures (SMMs) in Singapore, which restricts lion dance cai qing (‘plucking the green’ good luck ritual) performances to indoor live performance venues, places of worship,…