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Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Aletta

    (Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, The Bartlett, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN, UK)

  • Timothy Van Renterghem

    (WAVES Research Group, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 126, B 9052 Gent, Belgium)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown events and policies that followed, led to significant changes in the built environment and how it is experienced by people and communities. Among those, variations in the acoustic environments were some of the most noticeable in cities. This study investigated the relationships between the perception of the acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and different personal factors such as attitudes towards the pandemic and noise sensitivity, by performing a survey with 109 participants in an urban green public space in Antwerp (Belgium), shortly after most restrictions issued by the government were lifted in September 2020 when the first contamination wave ended. While preliminary in nature, the results of this data collection campaign show that people actively changing their behaviors (using less public transport or cycling more) assessed the soundscapes as less vibrant/exciting. People who were more concerned about the pandemic tended to notice more natural sounds and noise from traffic on nearby local roads. This same subset also put a bigger importance on the environmental quality of the public space than in the pre-pandemic period. Noise sensitivity also played a role, as an association was found between more-than-average noise sensitive persons and those more worried regarding the pandemic. Overall, the findings of this study confirm that at least part of the people have started to perceive the public space, including its soundscape, differently since the start of the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Aletta & Timothy Van Renterghem, 2021. "Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-15, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:11774-:d:675641
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jing Xie & Shixian Luo & Katsunori Furuya & Dajiang Sun, 2020. "Urban Parks as Green Buffers During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Daniel Steele & Catherine Guastavino, 2021. "Quieted City Sounds during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Montreal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Daniel Steele & Edda Bild & Cynthia Tarlao & Catherine Guastavino, 2019. "Soundtracking the Public Space: Outcomes of the Musikiosk Soundscape Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-38, May.
    4. César Asensio & Pierre Aumond & Arnaud Can & Luis Gascó & Peter Lercher & Jean-Marc Wunderli & Catherine Lavandier & Guillermo de Arcas & Carlos Ribeiro & Patricio Muñoz & Gaetano Licitra, 2020. "A Taxonomy Proposal for the Assessment of the Changes in Soundscape Resulting from the COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-9, June.
    5. Timothy Van Renterghem & Francesco Aletta & Dick Botteldooren, 2021. "Changes in the Soundscape of the Public Space Close to a Highway by a Noise Control Intervention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Vikas Mehta, 2020. "The new proxemics: COVID-19, social distancing, and sociable space," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 669-674, November.
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