A General and Simplified Methodology to Define Airport Noise-Influenced Zones and a Measurement of Related Social Costs
Abstract
Airport noise assessment and mitigation have been recognized as major topics by experts across many fields. The importance of assessment and mitigation is even greater as demonstrated by the current European context, where green programs are being developed and post-Covid recovery funds are linked to a green and sustainable transition. This paper aims to provide a general, relatively simple, and flexible methodology to approximate airport noiseinfluenced zones and quantify the cost of noise pollution. We have done this without specific software, monitoring stations, and/or complex meteorological data. Airport noise-influenced zones are estimated by simply relying on aircraft certification data, while the social cost of such estimation is computed by taking into account the distribution of residential units located within the estimated contours. We provide some practical applications to a group of Italian and Spanish airports as well as possible beneficial policy interventions in terms of minimization of noise impact on the population living in the airport neighborhoods. In addition, compatible land-use planning and management are proposed and discussed.
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Gianmarco Andreana
Postdoctoral researcher
My research interests include transportation, aviation, operations research and game theory.