Measuring performance concerning air and noise pollution: a comparison of Madrid’s official data and results from a citizen survey

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study is to analyse whether citizens’ perceptions of noise and air pollution are related with objective measures of noise and air pollution in the urban context. Merging local services performance and air quality research, the study makes a contribution to theories on how objective and subjective measures relate, identifying differences in ease of perception between noise and air pollution and the effect of previous attitudes. The analysis is based on datasets from the city of Madrid. After matching territorial zones, we use correlation and OLS regression analysis. Only in the case of noise, there is a significant relation between the actual levels of pollution and citizen’s perceptions, which is explained by differential characteristics of both types of pollution. Previous concern for the environment colours the assessment of local government actions as well as some personal characteristics and general attitudes towards the local community.

KEYWORDS:

• Air quality
• citizen satisfaction
• environmental indicators
• local government
• noise pollution
• objective performance – surveys

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Data on air and noise pollution from: https://datos.madrid.es/portal/site/egob/menuitem.c05c1f754a33a9fbe4b2e4b284f1a5a0/?vgnextoid=41e01e007c9db410VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=374512b9ace9f310VgnVCM100000171f5a0aRCRD. https://datos.madrid.es/portal/site/egob/menuitem.c05c1f754a33a9fbe4b2e4b284f1a5a0/?vgnextoid=b8c427a272e4e410VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=374512b9ace9f310VgnVCM100000171f5a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

2. Survey data from https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/El-Ayuntamiento/Calidad-y-Evaluacion/Percepcion-Ciudadana/Edicion-2019/?vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=7d062d7c2bd6a610VgnVCM2000001f4a900aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f22ff49c4495d310VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD

Additional information

Funding

Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España, CSO2017-86653-P

Notes on contributors

Francisco Ferraioli

Francisco Ferraioli is a doctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona. He is completing his Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Policy. His research interests include performance of public services, administrative burden, environmental and health policy.

Xavier Ballart

Xavier Ballart is professor of Political and Administrative Sciences at Universitat Autonòma, Barcelona, Spain. He has worked on program evaluation, public policy and public management. In public management, he studies performance and motivation.