Noise in Alexandria, Egypt

I have just spent a few days in Alexandria, Egypt. My hotel is a really nice hotel with wonderful sea view and really nice rooms, staff etc. But the noise from the street is just terrible! It is of course no surprise that there is a lot of traffic in a city with 5 million people (or 7 or 8, depending on who you are asking), but the never stopping honking with the horns is just crazy!

I could understand the concept of honking when you need to get somebodys attention. But when they are honking all the time, it looses its purpose. Nobody reacts to the honking when it is going on constantly.



We have had many different workshops and seminars about EcoCity issues over here during the last year, and traffic always raises a lot of discussion. Noise, pollution and the fact that you cant really get anywhere anymore because of traffic jams are main concerns. So same people who see noise as big problem are driving around honking there horns. I try to understand this, I really do.

It is not only traffic noise that is making a person from the silent country Finland feel very stressed, it is a lot of noise also in restaurants and shops and in meetings. In some restaurants you cant have a conversation during dinner because the music is so loud. And talking on the phone in meetings is considered quite normal. A lot to adapt to for the silent Finn :)

But then again, when I get back home to my really quiet hometown I feel that is a bit spooky with no people and really no sounds! I also heard a comment from a south american who had been in Helsinki and she felt really un-safe because it was so empty and quiet in the streets. I guess you feel safe when you are in surroundings you are used to.

One easy step towards an EcoCity could be to simply uninstall the honking devices in the cars. I get back to the next step to reduce the amount of cars in another post!

While waiting for that one you can read our report about Egypts readiness for EcoCities that just came out!  http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/technology/2014/T161.pdf