In the Leidsebuurt in Amsterdam, residents and entrepreneurs measured the noise in their neighborhood for more than a year in 2020 during the first Amsterdam Sounds pilot. Amsterdam Sounds is a citizen measurement network and platform for measuring sound through open-source sensor technology. We investigate how a citizen monitoring network can contribute to finding solutions for noise pollution in the city center of Amsterdam by meeting residents, entrepreneurs and administrators. The measured data is the starting point for the conversation.
The pilot started at the end of 2019. After several months of measuring, the corona crisis unexpectedly broke out in March 2020. As a result, the measurement period of this pilot also became a unique opportunity to do a zero measurement of Amsterdam in silence. This allowed us to compare the active city with the silent city. In a series of two articles we share the results of the pilot in the Leidsebuurt: what can we learn from a city in lockdown? Together with Brita Röhl (General Manager Hotel 717 on Prinsengracht) and Rudi Karemaker (resident in the Leidsebuurt, living on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat) we analysed the data from the pilot. In this article they share their experiences with measuring via a citizen measurement network and in this article we dive into the measurement results.
