Designing Soundscape
for Sustainable Urban Development

Stockholm, Sweden

Designing Soundscape for Sustainable Urban Development is a hands-on conference on the promotion of soundscapes of high acoustic quality in urban planning and design.

The two-day programme includes plenary lectures, workshops on successful soundscape cases, and field trips to experience locations. Welcome to Stockholm, the first European green capital. How would You promote soundscapes of high acoustic quality? Over the last decade Europe has become increasingly aware that environments of high acoustic quality are a scarce resource that needs to be creatively planned and designed. This is illustrated by the European noise directive’s demand for protection of quiet areas.

The threat from global warming and the need to reduce CO2 emissions has led to requirements to increase the density of urban areas in order to reduce the need for long distance transport. In the short term, higher densities could threaten soundscape quality that is a precondition for psychological restoration, health and well-being among citizens, unless it is considered in planning and design. In the long term, it provides opportunities to improve urban soundscapes through a switch to walking, cycling and public transport. Nearly 80% of the European population live in urban areas, and deterioration of the urban soundscape is no option. In order to promote sustainable urban development it is necessary to integrate soundscape into urban planning and design.

Designing Soundscape for Sustainable Urban Development brings together professionals in architecture, urban planning, soundscape, noise policy, and bordering disciplines to share ideas and experiences, in order to face this new challenge. The City of Stockholm hosts Designing Soundscape for Sustainable Urban Development as part of the European Green Capital year 2010. The conference is organised in cooperation with several partners central to soundscape and urban planning in Europe, such as, the COST Action on soundscape and EUROCITIES – Working Group on Noise Policy. 

MORE INFORMATIONS:
Website: www.soundscape-conference.eu