Noise and the city: Leveraging crowdsourced big data to examine the spatio-temporal relationship between urban development and noise annoyance

Abstract

Noise is one of the most frequent complaints and represents a public health hazard. While traffic-related noise has been studied extensively, research on construction noise has been lacking. In this study, we examined the relationship between construction activities and noise annoyance and tested whether this relationship is stronger after working hours. Data were drawn from a historical inventory of major development projects and crowdsourced citizen complaints data (311 calls) in Vancouver, Canada from 2011 to 2016. Mixed effects models were developed with an interaction between construction activities and after-hours report. Results show that neighborhood noise complaints were significantly associated with major constructions (IRR = 1.062, 95% CI = 1.024–1.097). A significant interaction effect was also found between construction activities and after-hours reporting (IRR = 1.050 CI = 1.012–1.087). To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to empirically show the adverse effects of urban development on noise annoyance. The results imply that existing noise bylaws may not be effective in restricting construction activities at night and during sleeping hours, which may cause adverse health effects.