APPRAISALS OF NOISE POLLUTION, TRAFFIC AND LAND USE PATTERNS IN METROPOLITAN KARACHI THROUGH GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Karachi is one of the worst effected cities due to unchecked and uncontrolled noise pollution. Population growth rate of Karachi is about 3.0% per annum that depicts the annual growth of population at risk while pollution growth is also considerably high. The growing environmental degradation has exerted grave burden on resources, therefore, environmental monitoring has become indispensable. This neglected issue needs a serious attention and, continuous surveillance to evaluate the quality regularly. In this study, a hypothesis is formulated: "the high level of noise is associated with the geographical agglomeration of land use and traffic volume, which results in high incidence of noise related diseases and people working near those areas are on vulnerable risk.” The prime goals of this study are to modulate the information pertains to noise pollution and its adverse effects on human health and find out their spatial patterns all over Karachi. The research has covered different parameters: assessment of land cover / land use, human settlement growth, temporal traffic patterns, population distributions, current levels of noise, health implications, physicians’ and public perceptions. Spatial variations within metropolis have been largely ignored mainly due to less comprehension, under estimation of spatial techniques as well as difficulties in collecting, processing and analysing the data at micro geographic scales. Remote Sensing technology has been providing multi-dimensional information, which is utilized in various environmental investigations while Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have been accepted as a turnkey solution for the complex world due to its magnanimous breath of functionalities and cost effectiveness. The developed GIS evaluation combined the data sets, various analyses and the resultant maps with the capability to integrate further parameters for future risk assessments. Multi-attribute decision analysis was successfully employed. Micro-geographic appraisals of the metropolis were performed by considering 58 zones outlined by the local development authority. Each regional assessment included area, population density, distribution of land cover, split of land use, and frequency of noise-induced diseases, their prevalence scenario and temporal variations in noise levels within the zone. Multiple regression models for predicting noise levels at the olden iv regions of Karachi metropolis have been formulated in which traffic and land use parameters act as independent variables. The most unique feature of this study is the unification of engineering techniques with that of human behavioural sciences to trace down the manifestations of noise pollution. It is hoped that in future, more analogous multi-disciplinary researches would be conducted on emerging mega cities of the third world.