The Soundscape Quality in Some Urban Parks in Milan, Italy

Giovanni Brambilla, Veronica Gallo and Giovanni Zambon
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Giovanni Brambilla: CNR Institute of Acoustics and Sensors "O.M. Corbino", Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma 00133, Italy
Veronica Gallo: CNR Institute of Acoustics and Sensors "O.M. Corbino", Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma 00133, Italy
Giovanni Zambon: Deparment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, Milan 20126, Italy

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: Urban parks play an important role in preserving and promoting the health of citizens who are often exposed to noise pollution and the stress of daily life. The present study describes the main results obtained from a survey performed in five urban parks in Milan. Measurements of the acoustic environment were carried out in 29 sites together with interviews with 231 users on certain aspects of the parks not limited to merely sound. Acoustic data show that the surveyed parks mostly do not comply with the noise limit issued by the Italian legislation on protected areas. The unweighted 1/3-octave spectrum centre of gravity G and L A50 perform satisfactorily in discriminating among the acoustic environments. Such clear distinction was not observed in the subjective ratings on the perceived quality of the soundscape, likely due to the influence by non-acoustic factors that act as mediators in the assessment. This hypothesis is supported by the collected data on the perceived quality of quietness, which was rated worse than that of the soundscape. Comparing acoustic data with ratings, the perceived quality of the total environment was found to be less dependent on L Aeq than soundscape and quietness.

Keywords: soundscape; perceived quality; urban parks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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