At the request of the Regional Consultation Committee (CRO) of Rotterdam Airport, MovingDot has developed an “Assessment Framework” with which noise nuisance mitigation measures can be better valued. At the March 2024 CRO meeting, the MovingDot framework was formally adopted in the committee’s working methods and procedures.

“Comparing apples to oranges”
The ways possible measures work and the resulting nuisance-reducing effects are very diverse. Moreover, nuisance is – to a certain extent – personal and subjective as well. An assessment framework is therefore bound to “compare apples to oranges”, or in other words, it aims to be a multi-criteria analysis tool with which a choice for or against a noise abatement measure can be substantiated and explained.

The assessment framework structures objective versus subjective measures and juxtaposes qualitative information with quantitative information. This helps carrying out and better understanding possible measurements and calculations, up to identifying public appreciation for a possible measure.

Useful as checklist as well
Working with the CRO Rotterdam, it became apparent that the framework can also be used as a ‘checklist’ in the development process – from initial ideas down to the final advice on the nuisance reduction that is expected from a measure. Among other things, coherence can be monitored and priorities can be set on the information that is collected during the process.

For the CRO Rotterdam, a realistic case has been assessed with the framework, based on concrete and specific criteria that were derived from available data to evaluated a measure and arrive at an advice.

Finally, using an assessment framework does not automatically lead to a choice for or against possible nuisance mitigation measures. However, it does support the selection process through structuring and strengthen objectivity. It helps by monitoring the coherence of factual information and providing an overview for a subject – nuisance reduction – that is both technically complex and socially challenging.

In an airport’s path towards environmentally friendly operations, noise abatement is a key component in ensuring a sustainable coexistence between the rising demand of air transportation and local communities.

Image by Bryan Tong Minh