DIAGNOSTIC ET ANALYSE DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT ACOUSTIQUE DES CONFIGURATIONS URBAINES SAHARIENNES. CAS DE BISKRA

Abstract

Noise pollution affects a significant portion of the world's population, including Saharan inhabitants. The proliferating expansion of cities and traffic loads convey the primary reasons exacerbating the adverse effects of noise on the environment and people's quality of life. Thus, developing countries and Saharan settlements experience a lack of acoustic data and a tremendous gap in standards and operating procedures necessary for urban planning. The present study intends to examine the acoustic environment of Biskra city's urban layouts and relies mainly on multidisciplinary methodological approaches dealing with the objective and subjective aspects. Firstly, the space syntax theory for the urban morphology analysis focuses on the angular segment analysis, which provides a detailed diagnosis of the foreground and the background properties. The potential of the "to-movement" and "through-movement" keys provides an insightful exploration of mechanical and pedestrian movements on a local and global scale. Therefore, distinct metric radii were involved: 400 m, 800 m, 1200 m, 1600 m, 2000m, 2400 m, and 3200 m. Secondly, the experimental approach incorporates the assessment of the acoustic environment by performing 240 stations of measurements using a calibrated sound level meter. The monitored stations, which record 600 Level equivalent continuous sound weighted A (LeqA) values, are mostly installed close to residential areas and the edges of major highways, thoroughfares, and pedestrian axis. The modeling process involves different interpolation models provided by Geographic Information System (QGIS and SAGA GIS), namely: Inverse Distance Weighted (Gaussian, Exponential, Quadratic) and Kriging (Ordinary, Universal). Finally, a subjective approach involves developing a survey that addresses three distinct axes: Perceived affective quality, sonic mind mapping, and soundscape preferences. The findings highlight the noisy character of Biskra, despite the effectiveness of the IDW modeling. They demonstrate a moderate to a high positive correlation between global and local scales of syntactic measures, implying that these spatial variables may partially explain the urban acoustic patterns. This thorough investigation acts as a staging ground for bringing up this issue with city planners and decision-makers to create a practical action plan for a sustainable development strateg