An Approach to Soundscape Planning

This paper focuses on soundscape planning, or acoustic design, in the planning and management of open space in both urban and non-urban areas. It is based on notions, promoted over several decades, that the acoustic aspects of open space can, and should be, subject to design in the same way as are the visual dimensions. The current paradigm for the management of the outdoor acoustic environment is noise control and soundscape planning needs to adopt quite different practices from noise control with respect to acoustic criteria and measurement. The paper explores the specification of acoustic objectives for outdoor soundscapes and the translation of these objectives into acoustic criteria that are amenable to measurement and prediction as part of the design process. Such objectives, termed Proposed Acoustic Environments, focus on the information content in sounds in a particular space and, only indirectly, on characteristics such as level or loudness. Outdoor acoustic design is mostly concerned with avoiding, or achieving, the masking of one set of information in the acoustic signal with other sets of information in the same signal. These are critical methodological issues if soundscape planning is to move from being a good idea to common practice. Acoustic Design of Outdoor Space This paper concerns sound in the planning and management of outdoor space. This may be constructed space parks, squares, malls, residential precincts or other urban open space or space in non-urban environments such as rural, wilderness or recreational areas. Since Schafer [1] produced ‘The Tuning of the World’, the term soundscape [2] has entered the lexicons of a range of disciplines and educators interested in the acoustic environment, and it is the soundscape of these constructed or managed spaces that is of interest here. The soundscape of a place is simply its sonic, or acoustic, environment, with the receiver, or listener, at the centre of the sonic landscape [3]. Schafer argued, amongst other matters, that soundscapes are amenable to analysis and design. To him, acoustic design meant discovering the principles by which the aesthetic qualities of the acoustic environment may be improved. These principles could include elimination or restriction of certain sounds through noise abatement, the preservation of sounds that give character or sense of place to a location (soundmarks as the acoustical equivalent of visual landmarks) or imaginative placement of sounds to create attractive and stimulating environments. Various authors link these principles to physical planning and design [4]. Bohme [5] argues that, “ ...city planning can no longer be content with noise control and abatement, but must pay attention to the character of the acoustic atmosphere of squares, pedestrian zones, of whole cities”, and others advocate “Urban and landscape architects should take auditory perception into account. The perceptions of all senses should be dealt with to the same degree and the visual should not be favoured ... . Urban and landscape planners and designers should create sonic environments which form part of their context over both time and space.. abou but obje forw land invo envi recr thos acou