The Economic and Social Appraisal of Airport Noise: An Analysis of same made for the Residential Area of Barcelona Airport

Abstract

As the assessment of the impact on the external environment has become a necessary part to the taking of
any town and country planning decision and especially so when it is of an infrastructure or public investment
nature, the paper, by a use made of Contingent Appraisal (VC. Esp.), here examines the value ascribed to
Silence in the residential zone surrounding the Prat Airport in Barcelona. For the authors, one of the major
problems tied in with VC is Protest, as this occludes the value put on Silence by those here affected. Thus,
and to the end of a valid reducing of the protest effect, two approaches to Willingness to Pay (DAP. Esp.) are
here put forward, the fi rst being grounded on a direct DAP in which the survey targeted give their price for
an offered noise relief and a second or indirect DAP in which the survey targeted are asked to assess how
much Property would increase in value were the same noise relief to come into effect. Whereas the direct
DAP threw up a high protest rate (37.19%), the indirect one met with only a 7.8% boycott. It is argued here,
after an analysis made using linear regression and logistic models of the date gleaned, that on the one hand,
whereas a greater understanding of the question in point leads on to two evaluations of the matter, namely
that those who did not object to a direct approach called for a higher DAP (a broader understanding of the
benefi t offered?) and this despite any personal bother involved, while on the other, the more the problem is
understood, the more it is frowned upon. The authors conclude that there is greater scepticism about and
objection to a given component in the evaluation, be this the price put upon a quality of living, the form of
the provision or the mode of payment suggested which as an ulterior consequence leads on to a boycotting
of the same. Both phenomena bring on a sharp fall in the mean DAP under study. Thus, Opinion and its
subsequent valuing of an environmental plus are not just the upshot of individual perceptions but also of
the degree of comprehension and social perceiving of the matter at point. Likewise, the fi ndings are felt to
suggest that any appreciation of Airport Noise Pollution is also impinged upon by other environmental dins
and the planning and architectural make up of the contexts by it affected.