Several outdoor concerts were held in various parts of Helsinki during 2022. Based on the results of the survey, most of the respondents feel that the concerts enliven their neighbourhood, promote the economy of the city, local trade and services, and improve the city’s reputation. Compared to the previous resident survey (2018), the organisation of outdoor concerts was now viewed more positively and considered less disruptive. Because of the areas where concerts were organised, the 2022 survey areas differed from those of the 2018 survey, which may partly explain the results.
The inconvenience caused by outdoor concerts is related to their side-effects, such as littering and urinating in the surroundings of the event venue, public substance abuse and noise in general. The noise nuisance caused by the concerts was accentuated in the surroundings of the event areas where homes are located close to the concert venue and, according to the responses, the concerts disturb the residents’ sleep and relaxation the most.
Of all the respondents, 33% did not find noise from the concert area disruptive at all, which was a larger share than in 2018 and only 6% found the noise extremely disturbing. However, this was a larger share than in 2018 (3%). Residents of Tokoinranta reported less noise disturbance and those living close to the Olympic Stadium and in Suvilahti the most. However, the noise nuisance experienced as a result of outdoor concerts was smaller than in the 2018 survey and in line with the 2015 results.
Based on the responses, outdoor concerts should be organised more in Tokoinranta (59% in favour), Kaisaniemi (57%), Suvilahti (56%) and Olympic Stadium (51%), and in total 36% of the respondents felt that every other weekend would be a suitable interval for the concerts. Two-thirds of the respondents felt that outdoor concerts should end at the latest at 24:00 on Fridays and Saturdays and no later than at 23:00 on other days. Roughly half of the respondents said that outdoor concerts disturbed their sleep.
The survey areas covered the apartments in the vicinity of each event area in all directions where there are residential buildings and where noise can freely propagate. Thus, the respondents represented Helsinki residents for whom outdoor concerts are estimated to be more disturbing than city residents on average.
The survey was conducted in October 2022, and focused on the 2022 summer season, as due to the coronavirus pandemic, hardly any outdoor concerts were organised in 2020 and 2021. The sample size was approximately 2,800 persons. The data collection methods included letter and online surveys. In total, approximately 800 responses were received. The response rate was roughly 30 per cent, which can be considered a good result for a survey. The survey was available as a paper form or online, and in addition to Finnish and Swedish, the online survey could also be taken in English.
