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Yu X, Jarvis I, Davis Z, van den Bosch M, Davies H. Reductions in community noise levels in vancouver, Canada, during pandemic lockdown and association with land cover type. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 237:117064. [PMID: 37660874 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Urban transportation noise is a major public concern because of its adverse effects on health. The determinants of urban noise exposure have not been widely explored but the "natural experiment" presented by the COVID-19 lockdowns presented a unique opportunity. This study examined the relationship between environmental characteristics and urban noise pollution during the COVID-19 related lockdown in Metro Vancouver, Canada, from March 21st to May 18th, 2020. METHODS We used noise exposure data from the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) noise management program, comparing the noise levels during "Phase One" of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 to the corresponding time period in 2019 from 21 Noise Monitoring Terminals (NMTs) located throughout Metro Vancouver. We modelled the relationship between the change in noise level and the physical NMT environments, including land cover, and total length of roads at four different time periods (24Hr, daytime, evening and nighttime) and within three different buffer zones (100 m, 250 m, and 500 m). RESULTS Of 59,472 hourly measurements of community noise, the 24-h noise level was reduced by an average of 2.20 dBA between 2019 and 2020. Higher proportions of greenspace, barren areas, and soil-cover around NMTs resulted in stronger noise reductions and higher density of building, pavement, and water weakened the amount of noise reduction. Proximity of high-volume traffic roads (highways) were associated with weaker noise reduction. CONCLUSION The COVID-19 related lockdown was associated with reduced noise in Metro Vancouver, and the relative reduction depended on the types of the environment surrounding the NMT. Future research on the effects of urban environmental characteristics on geographic inequality in noise levels and health consequences of the COVID-19 related lockdown is merited.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xing Yu
- School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Ingrid Jarvis
- Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Zoë Davis
- Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada; School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Richmond, VIC, 3121, Australia; Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Matilda van den Bosch
- School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada; ISGlobal, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Plaça de La Mercè, 10-12, 08002, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Av. Monforte de Lemos, 3-5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Hugh Davies
- School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
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Zhao N, Prieur JF, Liu Y, Kneeshaw D, Lapointe EM, Paquette A, Zinszer K, Dupras J, Villeneuve PJ, Rainham DG, Lavigne E, Chen H, van den Bosch M, Oiamo T, Smargiassi A. Tree characteristics and environmental noise in complex urban settings - A case study from Montreal, Canada. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2021; 202:111887. [PMID: 34425113 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Field studies have shown that dense tree canopies and regular tree arrangements reduce noise from a point source. In urban areas, noise sources are multiple and tree arrangements are rarely dense. There is a lack of data on the association between the urban tree canopy characteristics and noise in complex urban settings. Our aim was to investigate the spatial variation of urban tree canopy characteristics, indices of vegetation abundance, and environmental noise levels. Using Light Detection and Ranging point cloud data for 2015, we extracted the characteristics of 1,272,069 public and private trees across the island of Montreal, Canada. We distinguished needle-leaf from broadleaf trees, and calculated the percentage of broadleaf trees, the total area of the crown footprint, the mean crown centroid height, and the mean volume of crowns of trees that were located within 100m, 250m, 500m, and 1000m buffers around 87 in situ noise measurement sites. A random forest model incorporating tree characteristics, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values, and the distances to major urban noise sources (highways, railways and roads) was employed to estimate variation in noise among measurement locations. We found decreasing trends in noise levels with increases in total area of the crown footprint and mean crown centroid height. The percentages of increased mean squared error of the regression models indicated that in 500m buffers the total area of the crown footprint (29.2%) and the mean crown centroid height (12.6%) had a stronger influence than NDVI (3.2%) in modeling noise levels; similar patterns of influence were observed using other buffers. Our findings suggest that municipal initiatives designed to reduce urban noise should account for tree features, and not just the number of trees or the overall amount of vegetation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naizhuo Zhao
- Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Jean-François Prieur
- Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Ying Liu
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Centre of Public Health Research, University of Montreal and CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniel Kneeshaw
- Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Eugénie Morasse Lapointe
- Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Alain Paquette
- Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Kate Zinszer
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Centre of Public Health Research, University of Montreal and CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Jérôme Dupras
- Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Ripon, QC, Canada
| | - Paul J Villeneuve
- School of Mathematics and Statistics and Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Daniel G Rainham
- School of Health and Human Performance and the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - Eric Lavigne
- Air Health Science Division, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Hong Chen
- Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Matilda van den Bosch
- School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; ISGlobal, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Tor Oiamo
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Audrey Smargiassi
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Centre of Public Health Research, University of Montreal and CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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