In February 2019, Manchester Metropolitan University hosted three days of meetings, focus groups and workshops related to the quality of life research carried out under ANIMA project. Measuring the effectiveness of a communication campaign in lowering annoyance – Focus Group Trials While addressing annoyance with the purpose of improving the quality of life of the communities surrounding airports, the ANIMA partners highlighted the role that communication has in this process. For this purpose, ANIMA researchers convened in Manchester on Monday, 4th February, to facilitate a focus group to help measure the effectiveness of a communication campaign in lowering annoyance. This was a trial focus group to help validate whether the ANIMA researchers were asking the right questions, and doing so in the right way, before more focus groups would take place at case study airport locations, such as London Heathrow Airport, Vienna Airport, etc. The aim of the focus groups is to help understand what sort of information is valuable to airport residents, what issues are important to their quality of life, and how airports should be communicating with them. Pilot study on novel land-use planning approaches – Validation Workshop Some of the ANIMA partners together with external industry stakeholders […]

Developing solutions to alleviate annoyance encountered by communities surrounding airport areas was the main topic of the event organised by the European project ANIMA (Aviation Noise Impact Management through novel Approaches) in Brussels on 18 February 2019. Held on the premises of and organised by the Airport Regions Conference, the organisation representing cities and regions with an airport on their territory, this conference brought together local communities, noise experts, spatial planners, academia, researchers and policy-makers. The audience of some 80 attendees explored the ways in which land use planning can help lower noise in airport areas. The morning session was dedicated to new approaches and tools developed by ANIMA, whereas the afternoon session highlighted actual feedback from airport managers and neighbours. Laurent Leylekian (ONERA, France), ANIMA coordinator, underlined the increasing concerns about aviation noise concluding that it is our common duty to bring solutions and to propose consensual ways of addressing the issue with all the involved parties, including communities, both to preserve the competitiveness of the European aviation sector and the highest living standards of our fellow European citizens. In this regard, land use planning and management is considered as an effective means to ensure that the activities nearby […]

The ANIMA project was presented at the beginning of November at the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN) Annual Conference in Ottawa. GARDN is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada and the Canadian aerospace industry. This year, the GARDN conference was organized in conjunction with the Canadian Aerospace summit, which saw more than 2000 attendees. Part of the programme, ANIMA was present in the trade show of the Canadian Aerospace Summit, with a booth where participants were able to learn more about the project and read the existing publications. ANIMA’s presence at international-scale events such as this one promotes the transferability of approaches developed in the project to other countries. The ANIMA project is a people-oriented research project. It aims at identifying and disseminating best practices to lower the noise annoyance endured by communities around airports. The project also allows to better understand the non-acoustical factors which influence noise annoyance, but also to improve the quality of life of communities surrounding airports.

Amsterdam, 11 October 2018 – On the heels of the release of the World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region, partners of Horizon2020 project ANIMA (Aviation Noise Impact Management through novel Approaches) gathered in Amsterdam between 9 and 11 October for the second technical review and project management meeting. The project partners focus their research on noise to provide solutions for improving well-being and quality of life in the EU. The current progress on the activities in the ANIMA project confirms that this issue is being addressed as a priority by the research community, industry and land use planners altogether. The second ANIMA project meeting was hosted by Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR). T he second ANIMA project meeting was hosted by Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR). This ANIMA partner is in charge of the tasks focused on improving quality of life and reducing noise impact by addressing annoyance. The event consisted of several sessions: aside from several technical meetings, this was an opportunity to consult with the ANIMA Advisory Board, a group formed of aviation noise experts, independent organisations that tackle aviation noise and policy-makers. During the working group meetings, the ANIMA partners presented and exchanged […]