Urban Tranquility-towards immersive representation of noise and well-being in urban environments

Due to the urbanization, there is a need for densification of cities and efficient land use. Densification of cities implies higher levels of noise, which places new demands on buildings and urban planning to create quiet environments. Due to high levels of noise, today it is difficult to build dwellings in many key places in the cities that fulfil noise levels regulations. To solve these issues, close cooperation between governments, contractors, developers, universities and institutes is required. Through the research project Urban Tranquility managed by Lund University, such a cooperation is established. The project will develop new methods, processes and products to create future silent cities. The aim is that through applied research and innovation-oriented activities find methods and strategies for designing silent environments in a dense city with buildings that harmonize with traffic and infrastructure for sustainable urban development. The focus will be on methods for designing housing and other buildings through densification and on methods for predicting and evaluating the impact on the living environment of noise, vibration and local wind conditions in a dense city. The present paper addresses how one of the research tasks will consider immersive representation of noise and well-being in the urban environment.