Special Issue "The Protection of Quiet Areas as a Public Health Aim Towards Sustainable Health: Approaches, Case Studies and Implementation"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Peter Lercher
Division of Social Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Sonnenburgstraße 16, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Website: http://www.i-med.ac.at/sozialmedizin/de/personal/peter_lercher.html
E-Mail: peter.lercher@i-med.ac.at
Phone: +43 0512 9003 71253
Fax: +43 0512 9003 73251
Interests: environmental and social epidemiology; environmental health impact assessment; noise/vibration and air pollution; combined effects; quality of life

Dear Colleagues,

Noise is continuously spreading from urban centers to suburban and rural areas - thereby reducing the options for restoration, undisturbed communication and decreasing health related and environmental quality of life.
Aside from continuously increasing traffic one important reason for the unending spread of noise is that in large environmental health impact assessments (airports, rail tracks, roads) only the upper health limits of exposure are addressed.
This leads to the widespread use in environmental administration and policy to "fill up" the noise exposure to the maximum allowed.
Aware of this fact, in 2002, the Environmental noise directive (END) has introduced the protection of quiet areas as a new goal for the administration of noise in European countries.
Other parts of the world face the same problem. Unfortunately, the legal and scientific framework to implement this new aim is still in its infancy.
Contributions, which address the health and restoration related aspects in theory and practice and examples of implementation at national, regional or community level are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Peter Lercher
Guest Editor

Submission

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• sound and quality of life
• sound and restoration
• health benefits of quiet areas
• health benefits of soundscapes
• quiet area implementation
• soundscape implementation
• quiet area policy approaches