Quieter except on weekend evenings: changes in street-level noise following pedestrianisation

Using open data from seven permanent noise monitoring stations, our study assesses changes in street-level noise following the pedestrianisation of Barcelona’s new ‘green axes’ in 2023. We find that noise levels have diminished consistently for all study locations following pedestrianisation, with an average 24-hour reduction of −3.1 dB. However, this reduction overlooks potential qualitative changes to the soundscape caused by the shift from motorised traffic to pedestrian activity. We also report selected results from a resident survey assessing views on pedestrianisation (n = 1,211), regarding questions on street noise and its impacts on residents’ homes. We find that residents of pedestrianised streets exhibit significantly different adaptive behaviours to street noise compared to those of neighbouring streets, reporting among others more frequent use of street-facing rooms and balconies.