Journal Calls for Research on Urban Acoustic Quality
The journal *Discover Analytics* has issued a call for a special issue focused on the acoustic quality of urban spaces. The issue seeks submissions on novel analytical methods for understanding how urban design, morphology, and materials shape soundscapes. The call recognizes sound as an increasingly important metric for urban liveability, health, and social inclusion.
- A recent European Environment Agency (EEA) report underscores the health impacts of transport noise, attributing 66,000 premature deaths and 50,000 new cases of cardiovascular disease in Europe annually to chronic exposure. The EU's goal to reduce the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30% by 2030 is progressing slowly, with only a 3% reduction observed between 2017 and 2022. - In the Netherlands, the *Bouwbesluit 2012* (Dutch Building Decree) sets minimum standards for acoustic insulation in construction, including requirements for airborne sound insulation for walls (52 dB) and impact noise for floors (54 dB). These regulations are now integrated into the new Environment and Planning Act (*Omgevingswet*), which came into effect on January 1, 2024, combining various rules on the physical environment. - Municipalities in the Netherlands now incorporate noise regulations within their local environment plans (*omgevingsplan*), with a transition period until 2032 to fully replace older rules. This decentralizes authority, giving municipalities more scope for local policy-making on noise, especially in balancing housing development and noise limits. - Dutch research organization TNO is actively developing technologies for real-time, interactive noise mapping and source recognition. This work supports projects like Urban Strategy, a GIS-based tool to help local authorities with integrated environmental planning, and pilot projects in Amsterdam and Rotterdam to monitor traffic noise with smart sensors. - Several Dutch cities are implementing smart city solutions to manage urban noise. Amsterdam has trialed digital signs that display a "Too Loud" message to drivers, while Rotterdam is using algorithms to identify noise sources from vessels in the port. These initiatives often involve collaborations between municipalities, knowledge institutions like TNO, and technology companies. - Academic research in the Netherlands is exploring the qualitative aspects of urban sound. TU Delft's NOISE® project investigates the soundscapes of Rotterdam's Katendrecht district through community participation, while the University of Groningen is researching the relationship between soundscapes, biodiversity, and well-being. - A new Dutch Urban Sounds dataset is being developed to train AI models for sound classification on edge devices, like noise sensors. This aims to improve the accuracy of identifying specific sound sources in urban environments while preserving privacy by processing data locally. - Citizen science projects are emerging as a key method for data collection on urban soundscapes. The "De Oorzaak" project in Flanders, a collaboration including the University of Antwerp, used hundreds of smart sensors and thousands of citizen questionnaires to link environmental noise with health outcomes like sleep, stress, and fatigue.
