Special Issue "Noise Pollution and Sustainable Urban Planning"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Hazards and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 22 May 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alessandro Bisceglie
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Interests: environmental noise; noise mapping; acoustic modeling; soundscape ecology; building acoustic; environmental impact assessment; strategic environmental assessment; modeling; sustainability; sustainable development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is common knowledge that most urban residents are exposed to harmful noise levels, both in working and living spaces. Noise is not only annoying but it can also lead to stress, sleep disturbance, hypertension, and even more serious effects.

The main source of noise is undoubtedly road traffic, which in the urban context, takes on particular features typical of complex road networks, such as low vehicular speed and stop-and-go driving.

Other important noise contributions to urban environment are found in different transportation systems, human activities (leisure activities, crowding in recreational and shopping areas), technical systems serving commercial and productive business, and construction sites.

All these collectively contribute to creating the sound of the city, that can turn into damaging noise if it is perceived by residents as being too high, unnecessary, and disturbing.

So far, mitigative actions focused on single source typologies have been insufficient in decreasing the impact of noise pollution below specified limits and target values. Furthermore, a significant amount of the generated urban noise is not taken into account by acoustic mapping results because it is related to other factors, such as urban life and the mixture of spaces with different usage, that cannot be easily predicted.

In this context, urban planning strategies must become a priority. A sustainable strategy in terms of noise pollution control should aim at regulating and planning urban scenarios with a long run view to prevent the harmful effects of noise on a population.

This Special Issue focuses on all aspects connecting urban planning and policy to noise pollution control and mitigation.

Papers on regulatory components influencing city soundscape, intelligent traffic regulation, methods to create and protect quiet areas, monitoring and regulations of highly crowded areas, urban and building design are welcome. In addition, soundscape analysis can be considered an emerging tool to describe urban acoustic states and trend, and it can drive the investigation of some areas approaching the issue in a holistic way.

All contributions regarding recent experiences, case studies, or scientific evidence relating to the effects of urban decision processes on the reduction of noise pollution will be considered, supporting both methodological and technical approaches. The collection of papers aims at creating a background of good practices and a reference for municipalities and anyone studying urban design development.

Dr. Alessandro Bisceglie
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • noise pollution
  • transportation
  • noise control policy
  • noise reduction
  • soundscape analysis
  • urban planning
  • urban soundscape
  • sustainable development strategies

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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