Urban environmental quality, sustainability and place marketing with special focus on noise nuisance and the role of municipalities

Noise nuisance or noise pollution has become one of the most typical urban environmental problems increasingly annoying a growing number of citizens. In order to combat it, municipalities have an outstanding role to play. This study intends both to present public opinions related to the municipalities' role and to provide a review of changes taking place in the appraisal of urban environments and of the potential utilisation of urban environmental quality including the acoustic environment as an asset in city marketing. In order to meet these objectives, slogans advertising Hungarian towns were analysed, especially for any reference to environmental quality and liveability. The potential use of such slogans is described in a case study. In addition, some results of a questionnaire survey carried out in the town of Debrecen are presented. It dealt with noise-nuisance-related public opinions, focusing on noise prevention issues and on the role of the local municipality. The results suggest that in nearly 25% of the cases the slogans emphasize the fact that a town is the centre or the 'capital' of a given region. Their importance is intended to be thus accentuated, putting such towns higher in the 'hierarchy' and distinguishing them from others, Environmental quality along with other distinctive assets (e.g. local products, traditions and liveability) are generally ignored, and the slogans actually chosen do not support city marketing in most cases, This is also true for Debrecen whose slogan can be considered to be utterly banal, not reflecting the town's features and values, namely its rich cultural life, traditions and its schooltown character what it has to offer for tourists or investors, nor marketing its uniqueness. Therefore the city cannot be regarded as being well marketed, as its marketing is not covering local features, products and services. The results of the questionnaire survey show a rather disadvantageous picture with regard to noise prevention in the town. This, according to the noise complaint index (established to measure spatial differences in noise-nuisance-related public opinion), especially applies to the Central-Northern district (primarily the Town Centre) and the Eastern districts. The former can be explained by the major streets leading through the district, whereas the second is an important feedback considering the district's essentially garden-suburb character (associated by many with a more silent residential environment). According to nearly two thirds of the respondents, no adequate emphasis is put on handling (primarily road-traffic induced) noise-related problems. According to public opinions, this is clearly considered to be a task of the municipality. Although cooperation with relevant civil organisations would facilitate implementing more effective solutions, only a minor role is attributed to them.