One neighborhood, divided by noise
When Lucina Chavez-Rosique began jogging in the east side of Washington Heights, she immediately noticed the increase in noise. As a graduate student and a community worker, she wanted to learn more about why the decibels in this neighborhood seemed to be the loudest in Manhattan.
She researched the history of the neighborhood as well as the urban development strategies of the 1960s that defined what it is today. Then, supported with tools like a decibel meter and smartphone apps, she began interviewing neighborhood residents to learn about the impact of street noise on their daily lives. What unfolded is a complex web of multi-decade socioeconomic inequity and cultural differences, often markedly obvious by simply crossing east on Broadway in upper Manhattan.
Listen to the podcast:
Hear Lucina’s observations and learn about her research project in this episode of Soundproofist.
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Learn more:
- Science Direct: “Is older residents’ exposure to road traffic noise associated with civic engagement for noise protection? A cross-sectional path analysis“
- New York Post: “These New York neighborhoods have the most noise complaints” (2018)
- The New Yorker: “Mapping New York’s Noisiest Neighborhoods” (2015)
- Patch: “Upper Manhattan Facebook Group Targets Jarring Noise Levels” (2020)
- Soundproofist: “Helicopter Noise Over New York City“
- Museum of the City of New York: “The Cross Manhattan Expressway“
- Wikipedia: “178th-179th Street Tunnels“