Bruit aérien et équité environnementale dans les quatre plus grandes métropoles canadiennes

Abstract

Messages clés Respectivement 419 000 et 57 000 personnes résident à l'intérieur des courbes NEF 25 et NEF 30 dans les quatre RMR étudiées, soit des zones de bruit aérien assez élevé. Il y a des situations contrastées en termes d'iniquité selon les métropoles. L'iniquité quant au niveau de bruit aérien mesuré dans le milieu résidentiel est peu prononcée pour les groupes de population étudiés.

Aircraft noise and environmental equity in Montréal: A comparison of noise indicators and an analysis of the impacts of COVID-19

“…For cumulative noise indicators, the sectors exposed to high noise levels (55–60 and ≥ 60 dB(A)) are mostly located in proximity to urban areas in municipalities adjacent to the Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (Dorval and Pointe-Claire to the west, and the Saint-Laurent district (Bois-Franc neighbourhood) and Ville Mont-Royal to the east). These sectors accommodate mostly wealthy households, owners of single-family multi-storey homes with garages (cottage or bungalow types) and whose purchasing cost is high ( Audrin et al, 2019 ). However, for the high noise levels for the L Amax indicator (65–70 and 70–75 dB(A)), but also at lower noise levels for the L den and L dn indicators (50–55 dB(A)), noise contour areas being greater, within these zones there are certain central neighbourhoods of the Island of Montréal (Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, Côte-des-Neige-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce), as well as surrounding neighbourhoods (Saint-Léonard, Lachine and Ahuntsic-Cartierville), where we find, at least in some parts of these territories, a high proportion of the low-income population ( Ades et al, 2012 , Séguin et al, 2012 ).…”

“…Among the work conducted on aircraft noise, transversal studies have shown that low-income households and certain ethno-cultural communities (Hispanic, Black, or Asian) are subject to disproportionate exposure to high levels of aircraft noise in their residential area. This was shown in Saint-Louis (United States) ( Most et al, 2004 ), Phoenix (United States) ( Sobotta et al, 2007 ), Calgary and Vancouver (Canada) ( Audrin et al, 2019 ) and across the United States (US) ( Collins et al, 2020 ). For example, Sobotta et al (2007) find that on average in Phoenix, the percentage of Hispanic households increases the probability of being exposed to high levels of aircraft noise by 25%.…”

“…Similar to recent work on environmental equity in Montréal ( Apparicio et al, 2016 , Audrin et al, 2019 , Carrier et al, 2016 , Delaunay et al, 2019 , Pham et al, 2012 , Potvin et al, 2019 ), four population groups are considered in this study: low-income individuals (before tax), visible minorities (see definitions in supplementary material s, A2), children under 15 years old, and individuals aged 65 and over. The first two groups are chosen considering their socioeconomic vulnerability, and the last two for their physiological vulnerability to aircraft noise.…”

“…Similar observations were made in Toronto and Montréal, in Canada. A recent study found that low-income populations are slightly more advantaged in terms of exposure to aircraft noise in the metropolitan areas of Toronto and Montréal ( Audrin et al, 2019 ). This situation can be explained by the specific residential geography of these two cities where there are mostly wealthier sectors close to the two airports in the neighbouring suburbs, whereas the mostly disadvantaged populations are concentrated in certain central neighbourhoods.…”

“…More specifically, most studies use the reference indicator of the case study country: L den in Europe ( Kruize et al, 2007 ), L dn and L aeq,24h in the United States ( Sobotta et al, 2007 , Ogneva-Himmelberger and Cooperman, 2010 , Collins et al, 2020 ). In Canada, NEF was used to measure reference noise ( Audrin et al, 2021 , Audrin et al, 2019 ). It is important to remember that the NEF index will not be considered in this study for two main reasons.…”