Browsing by Author "García, Igone"
Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Analysis of Field Data to Describe the Effect of Context (Acoustic and Non-Acoustic Factors) on Urban Soundscapes(2017) Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; García, Igone; Diez, Itxasne; Santander, Alvaro; Aspuru, Itziar; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOThe need to improve acoustic environments in our cities has led to increased interest in correcting or minimising noise pollution in urban environments, something that has been associated with the resurgence of the soundscape approach. This line of research highlights the importance of context in the perception of acoustic environments. Despite this, few studies consider together a wide number of variables relating to the context, and analyse the relative importance of each. The purpose of this paper is therefore to identify the acoustic and non-acoustic characteristics of a place (context) that influence an individual’s perception of the sound environment and the relative importance of these factors in soundscape. The aim is to continue advancing in the definition of an acoustic comfort indicator for urban places. The data used here were collected in various soundscape campaigns carried out by Tecnalia in Bilbao (Spain) between 2011 and 2014. These studies involved 534 evaluations of 10 different places. The results indicate that many diverse contextual factors determine soundscape, the most important being the congruence between soundscape and landscape. The limitations of the findings and suggestions for further research are also discussed.Item Application of the methodology to assess quiet urban areas in Bilbao: Case pilot of QUADMAP(OAL-Osterreichischer Arbeitsring fur Larmbekampfung, 2013) García, Igone; Aspuru, Itziar; Herranz, Karmele; Bustamante, María Teresa; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTALThe aim of LIFE + project QUADMAP is to propose a methodology for the selection, analysis and management of Urban Quiet Areas. Considering the study of the European state of art, a preliminary draft of instructions is done. The application of this guide in the pilot cases of the project will provide information to test and improve this methodology, which is the final result of the project. This communication presents the experience of the use of these instructions in one of the selected pilot cases in Bilbao: General Latorre square. The guide for the analysis of quiet urban areas is based in considering three complementary tools: expert analysis, sound measurements, and evaluation of perception through the application of questionnaires. The proposed methodology is devoted to provide useful information for the management of the area and its quietness. This objective implies more than reducing noise pollution and the exclusively consideration of the acoustic context of the place.Item Bilbao sound strategy: A comprehensive, flexible and balanced approach(2016-08-21) García, Igone; Aspuru, Itziar; Rincón, Enrique; Santander, Alvaro; Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTALThe City Council of Bilbao was a pioneering municipality in noise management, becoming the first local government in Spain with its own Noise Ordinance, Noise Map and monitoring system. However, the initial approach to the policy on noise was of a clearly sector-based nature and not proactive. Today the City Council believes one of the keys to adding value to the city and its spaces includes management of the noise factor. To this end, the City Council is deploying a Sound Strategy which is intended to make Bilbao a space where sounds coexist, improving its people's quality of life. The municipality is leading comprehensive, flexible and balanced management of the sound factor in Bilbao through a shared commitment with different role-players in the city and citizenry. This paper introduces key elements within the strategy, as well as the services and applications that contribute to creating the instruments which will further its implementation and development.Item CITI-SENSE: Methods and tools for empowering citizens to observe acoustic comfort in outdoor public spaces(2016-01) Aspuru, Itziar; García, Igone; Herranz, Karmele; Santander, Alvaro; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOThe purpose of this research was to design and deploy tools that apply the concept of citizen observatories and empowering citizens in the assessment of acoustic comfort in public places. The research applies an iterative cycle of design and this article presents the results of a demonstrative experiment carried out insitu using the first products developed. This work was undertaken as part of the CITI-SENSE project. A viable technical and procedural solution was designed and tested in a field demonstration, where 53 people were engaged to provide 137 observations in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, using environmental sensors connected to a smartphone. The results have been analyzed and discussed in terms of the product's attractiveness for engaging citizens in the evaluation of acoustic comfort in urban places, the accuracy of the noise levels measured by the acoustic app service integrated into the smartphone, and its ability to obtain simultaneous acoustic and perception data. The results presented in this article are considered a step forward in the research into developing solutions for assessing acoustic comfort. Limitations of the proposed solution are discussed, as are suggestions for further research.Item Empowering people on the assessment of the acoustic comfort of urban places: CITI-SENSE project(2016-08-21) Aspuru, Itziar; García, Igone; Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; Santander, Alvaro; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOTecnalia has applied the concept of citizen observatories to empower citizens in the assessment of acoustic comfort in public places. Tools and observation protocols are defined to allow citizens collecting simultaneous objective and subjective data of the sound environment in places of their city known by them. Previous works stated that criteria to define quiet areas should consider not only noise levels, but subjective data also, giving importance to the end-users perception of the area. This work was undertaken as part of the CITI-SENSE project and the solution was tested in a field demonstration, where 53 people were engaged to provide 137 observations in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, using environmental sensors connected to a smartphone.Item Going beyond Quietness: Determining the Emotionally Restorative Effect of Acoustic Environments in Urban Open Public Spaces: Determining the emotionally restorative effect of acoustic environments in urban open public spaces(2019-04-01) Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; Aspuru, Itziar; Iraurgi, Ioseba; Santander, Álvaro; Eguiguren, Jose Luis; García, Igone; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; SG; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOThe capacity of natural settings to promote psychological restoration has attracted increasing research attention, especially with regards to the visual dimension. However, there is a need to extend these studies to urban settings, such as squares, parks or gardens, due to the global trend towards urbanisation, and to integrate the dimension of sound into landscape. Such was the main aim of this study, in which 53 participants assessed four public spaces in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) as part of the CITI-SENSE Project (137 observations were used for analysis). A smartphone application was used to simultaneously collect objective and subjective data. The results show that at the end of the urban environmental experience, there was a statistically significant reduction in negative emotions and perceived stress, and a slight increase in positive emotions. Emotional restoration was mainly associated with prior emotional states, but also with global environmental comfort and acoustic comfort. The soundscape characteristics that contributed to greater emotional restoration and a reduction in perceived stress were pleasantness, calm, fun and naturalness. Therefore, in agreement with previous research, the findings of the present study indicate that besides contributing to the quietness of the urban environment, the urban soundscape can promote psychological restoration in users of these spaces.Item Plan maestro del centro urbano de San José, Costa Rica: Retos del enfoque integrado y la implementación de los planes(University of Cantabria - Building Technology R&D Group, 2020) Molina, Patricia; Matesanz, Ángela; Sopelana, Amaia; Von Breyman, Helga; Solano, Erick; Chavarría, Dania; García, Igone; Sasa, Zuhra; Castillo, Liza; Jiménez, Alejandro; Lombillo, Ignacio; Blanco, Haydee; Boffill, Yosbel; GENERAL; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; LABORATORIO DE TRANSFORMACIÓN URBANAItem Progress in the understanding of soundscape: Objective variables and objectifiable criteria that predict acoustic comfort in urban places(2016-01) Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; García, Igone; Aspuru, Itziar; Díez, Itxasne; Santander, Álvaro; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO; Tecnalia Research & InnovationThe overall aim of this research was to find a group of easy-to-access variables, that are measurable or assessable, and which help predict acoustic comfort in urban places, in order to make further progress in developing a soundscape indicator based on indices readily available in urban environments. Our main conceptual framework has been the Environmental Experience Model and the ISO of Soundscape, together with the most up-to-date information and technology, where parameters that influence the soundscape and comfort in urban public places have been identified. This work has been undertaken as part of the CITI-SENSE project. A viable technical and procedural solution was designed and tested in a field demonstration, where 53 people were engaged to provide 120 observationsinthe city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, using environmental sensors connected to a smartphone. The results were analysed and are discussed here with the aim of defining an indicator that permits an easy evaluation of acoustic comfort in urban places. The results presented in this article are considered a step forward in the development of a soundscape indicator based on indices readily available in urban environments. The limitations of the findings are also discussed, as are suggestions for further research.Item Proposed conceptual model of environmental experience as framework to study the soundscape(2010) Herranz-Pascual, Karmele; Aspuru, Itziar; García, Igone; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOA proposed general conceptual model about environmental experience is presented in this paper to guide the soundscape studies. This proposal is the output of a review of the literature on soundscape and our experience regarding psychosocial studies in the Labien- Tecnalia Environmental Unit focuses on the relationship between environment and persons or communities. The general model has been structured around five main elements: person (community), place, activity, previous interaction between person and place, and environmental experience. The environmental experience is, in this model, a holistic experience within that soundscape and is linked to other perceptions, such as landscape, odour, etc. The relevant factors and variables of each main element have been identified to help us to explain human and social holistic experience in relation to place, in general, and soundscape (perception) in particular. The main objective of this paper is to present this model and to discuss it with interested colleagues.Item Protocol to manage construction noise in urban areas: Practical case in Bilbao municipality(2015) García, Igone; Aspuru, Itziar; Diez, Itxasne; Gastiasoro, Alfredo; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; Tecnalia Research & InnovationMeasures to control construction noise should go beyond measuring the impact and reacting to it. Identification of potential problems before they occur is the optimal approach. At the same time, proposed methodologies and protocols should be realistic and practical, since they will be implemented in a very tight framework, both in terms of limitation of budget and time constraints. Therefore, practical testing of them is more than welcome. This paper presents a procedure to define acoustic requirements to urban construction works and a methodology to answer to those requirements when executing the works. Both were defined as result of the collaboration between Tecnalia and a construction company in a real work developed in the city of Bilbao. Therefore, it considers the needs, capabilities and constraints expressed by a public local authority and a private construction company. The procedure includes an integral approach that considers: the prediction of the noise impacts, proposing abatement measures and analyzing their efficiency in real time during the timeline of the construction works. As result of the working process some criteria to adapt the requirements asked to different works are obtained. These criteria are related to: the type of works, classifying them in terms of how noisy they are; and the acoustic conditions of the area, the sensitivity to noise impact and existing environmental noise levels (consulting noise maps, developed by the city). The methodology can be applied when planning and executing construction works in an urban area. The methodology faces two key challenges: being accepted by authorities leading the works, so not interfering too much in the timing and costs of the works, and being applicable by the construction companies as part of their environmental control.Item Soundscape as a criterion for urban design(2009) Memoli, Gianluca; Aspuru, Itziar; García, Igone; Arribillaga, Oihana; Proy, Rocio; CALIDAD Y CONFORT AMBIENTAL; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOIn the context of our urbanized society, the improvement of the sound environment in public spaces is increasingly seen as a primary objective for the municipalities that want to integrate quality of life in their development criteria. In this paper the sound environment of two different areas of Doña Casilda park, in the city centre of Bilbao (ES), has been characterized in terms of selected quantitative acoustical indicators derived from the time history of sound pressure. A qualitative, questionnaire-based survey was conducted in parallel, among the users of the selected park, trying to assess the accuracy of the selected quantitative indicators to describe the soundscape perception for both occasional visitors and habitual users. The comparison of the two simultaneous studies demonstrates why an appropriate indicator is a key variable to incorporate the acoustical aspects as a criterion for the design of urban spaces.