Using the soundscape approach for managing urban quiet areas

As the concept of soundscape focus on perception in context, the soundscape approach can be applied to all kinds of acoustic environments. Important locations in cities are urban quiet and calm areas offering restoration and relaxation. As these locations provides high restorative benefits positively affecting noise annoyance, their role for reducing noise effects is widely acknowledged. The END highlights the need to preserve environmental noise quality where it is good recognizing that a distinct feature of those areas is that it is not only about unwanted noise. Therefore classical level indicators frequently fail to sufficiently determine the quality of urban quiet areas. The EEA reported in the good practice guide on quiet areas that only an evaluation of user experiences can provide insight into how people perceive a quiet area asking for soundscape in-situ methods. Moreover, restoration (attention) theory as well as the multi-dimensional concept of affective quality is needed to determine the character of those areas in detail. Soundscape investigations can be implemented to determine relevant descriptors and indicators and help to identify measures for the protection and preservation of quiet areas. The paper demonstrates how the soundscape approach can be used to manage quiet areas in urban areas.