Topophilia, Environmental Comfort and Urban Noise as an Environmental Risk: The Perception of Residents in the Special Structural Sections of the City of Curitiba

Abstract

The theme of this article is the urban noise, considered nowadays the third cause of pollution of theplanet. In Brazil, although specific laws exist, which determine the thresholds for noise emissions and establishes protective measures to the population, one realizes that the noise levels of the different dailylife activities are above the recommended ones. Noise exposure may lead to several disorders in humanbeings and consequently, result in decreasing quality of life. Our aim was, therefore, to study andunderstand how is noise pollution perceived by the Structural Special Sectors of Curitiba’s populationand the relationship between sound (noise), health (auditory) and the environment (urban). Sound levelmeasurements were performed in 100 arbitrarily chosen spots in the place of the investigation and 100residents were interviewed in the same places. With the measurements, we found the noise levels insidethe residences of these Sectors to be above the legally recommended, being thus a risk factor to theexposed population. The results of the interviews have shown that people realize the presence of noiseinside their homes and are able to identify the causes (mostly vehicles traffic) and effects (auditory andnon-auditory), but this perception is not evident.