The value of quiet in the city

Alan HJ Chan Today Online 25 Jun 10;

Cities are often assessed on economic indicators, environmental conditions, transport facilities and connectivity, cultural activities, crime rates and the cost of living. People speak of the hum and buzz of the city as reflecting its life. A silent city, by contrast, is taken to mean a sleepy or dead city.

I have lived in the city for some years now, just off Orchard Road. From my high rise windows, I take a different view. There is one characteristic of a city that is too seldom valued - quiet.

Noise seems unavoidable, permeating every scene, every space. There are heavy lorries and pile drivers on construction sites, traffic with pseudo race cars, loudspeakers blaring out from the shopping centres, buskers on the corner and too many mobile phones in the hands of loud mouths.

Such noise leads to stress. Quiet, in contrast, allows the human being to think. Thinking drives human advancement. Quiet therefore has a function and an economic value.

Generally speaking, I judge that the more developed cultures prefer softer background music and public announcements. The less developed, the louder.

By this measure, for all its other advancements, Singapore seems to be lagging. Especially along Orchard Road, the noise level is so high, so harsh, it spoils the ambience.

I am now a noise pollution refugee. For years, I enjoyed my apartment and tolerated the street noise, until a black bird appeared at the window. Its shriek called out at any hour, but particularly at dawn. I called a Ministry, which referred me to an Agency, which sent me to an Authority, that finally told me to turn to the Yellow Pages for a private pest controller.

I found out, in the process, several kinds of birds are classified as pests but not this one, even if it makes the most noise. Frustrated, I briefly imagined taking flight like the bird, and migrating.

Eventually, I decided not to leave the country. Instead I had to forsake my apartment in a well-wooded area for another, on a much higher floor and in an even denser part of the city's concrete jungle so neither birds nor the street noise far below can disturb me.

I like the life and activity of the city, being in the centre of things. But there are things that can be done to make the city quieter. These are practical things that will not stop city life but, rather, also allow quiet and thinking.

The first thing would be to measure noise more closely in different places and times and set appropriate limits. Then we have to sort out what noise is inevitable to city life and what can be toned down, without affecting the actual activity.

But a pre-requisite is that we must learn to value the quiet.

The writer was the founder and owner of Petroships and is an active supporter and benefactor of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, which collaborated on this commentary.