Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions for the Special Issue “Urban Acoustic Environments”, which aims to gather new research results dealing with the city realm and environmental sounds. The first studies investigating the relationships between the urban form and human experience of the acoustic environments date back to the Sixties. The quality of the outdoor acoustic environment has been a major community concern ever since, and the body of literature and multi-disciplinary research on the topic is growing. While the general approach to the management of environmental sounds has typically been a reactive one, more recent research and practice trends suggest that the aural domain should also be used proactively to promote healthy and supportive living spaces. Within this context, it is essential to embed “sound” into the broader framework of urban planning and design. For this reason, we have launched the call for this Special Issue on the urban acoustic environment. It will include a collection of original research articles, reports or technical notes, and review papers on the following topics: i) the urban implications of environmental sounds, ii) the relationships between landscapes and soundscapes, iii) the associations between land use and the spatial distribution of sound sources, iv) the effects of urban morphology on sound propagation in urban contexts, v) new sound mapping techniques, vi) the use of virtual reality in urban sound planning, and vii) studies on any other methodological strategies to characterize urban acoustic environments, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Dr. Francesco Aletta
Dr. Jooyoung Hong
Guest Editors

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. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

• environmental sounds
• community noise
• urban sound planning
• urban acoustics
• noise mapping
• quiet areas
• sound monitoring systems and acoustic sensors networks
• perception of urban sounds and soundscapes
• virtual/augmented reality and urban acoustics

Title: Soundscapes as Shaping Factor within An Eco-Urbanism Context
Author: Stella Kyvelou
Abstract: This article considers "soundscapes" as part of the territorial capital of a city or territory.  It highlights, mainly through a territorial approach, the question of the sound environment and its multi-sensory and multi-faceted dimensions related to the intangible heritage and the identity of a city or territory. It goes beyond the attenuation of ambient noise by considering the quality of the sound environment as a key factor, among others, of the attractiveness of a city or neighborhood. Several examples of cities and neighborhoods (eco-neighborhoods) that have set sound to the service of a global vision of urban quality, encompassing preservation and promotion of their cultural capital, are presented. Thus, the article leads to the connection of soundscapes with the concept of frugal city which goes beyond sustainable city, to support a dynamic and active approach in the production of cultural satisfactions to serve citizens. Frugal city is mostly based on satisfactions provided to the citizens and the paper gives emphasis to those related to sound ecology. The contribution of soundscapes to a dynamic and innovative approach to urban strategies is discussed, an approach based on the supply of various satisfactions and on the minimisation of the use of resources, thus allowing society to create sense of place, be creative and frugal at the same time, with positive effects for the whole economy.

Title: Toward Establishing Noise Metrics for Aircraft Noise Evaluation Around Major Airports in Vietnam
Authors: Thu Lan Nguyen ^1,*, Ichiro Yamada ² , Takashi Yano ³ , Koichi Makino ⁴ and Masaharu Ohya ⁵
Affiliations: ¹ Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan
² Airport Environment Improvement Foundation, Tokyo, Japan; i-yamada-center.aeif.or.jp or [email protected]
³ Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology Kumamoto University, Japan; [email protected]
⁴ Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, Tokyo 185-0022, Japan; [email protected]
⁵ RION CO.,LTD., Tokyo, Japan; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]
[Study Context]
The growth of aviation has further enriched people's lives by connecting people and places but led to a new social problem called aircraft noise. Being one of the fastest-growing of the world's economies, Vietnam is planning many new airports and implementing airport expansion to handle the country’s stressed aviation infrastructure. As a result, the impact of aircraft noise is becoming especially serious for residents living in areas close to expanded and new airports. However, Vietnam has no particular measure to manage the sound environment around its airports but only some regulations and standards on general environmental noise. For enhancing environmental preservation in response to the development of air traffic and airport development in Vietnam, the establishment of aircraft noise policy is an urgent issue. Like other developed countries, Japan has established various measures to limit or reduce the number of people affected by aircraft noise including standards, and regulations for aviation operation and airport planning and expansion relating to noise abatement. This paper describes a process to develop an appropriate noise metric and environmental quality standard as the first step toward establishing airport noise management policy in Vietnam by referring to measures that are being implemented in Japan. This study aims to propose a standard that fits the administrative procedures, national character, and values of residents living around the airports of Vietnam.
Abstract: Many decibel-based noise metrics are used in noise policy to describe aircraft sound in the environment. Among those, Day-evening-night-weighted sound pressure level  (), Day-night-weighted sound pressure level (), and Nighttime average sound pressure level () are the most widely-used noise metrics, but the designation of reference time intervals such as the day, evening and night in these noise metrics is different depending on the lifestyle and culture in each country. In this study, a survey on the life rhythm of Vietnamese was conducted referring to the questionnaire of the Basic Survey on Social Life in Japan and additional queries relating to living activities by the time intervals. The survey was performed via the internet and about 120 responses were collected with participants from the north and south areas in Vietnam. These data together with those accumulated from socio-acoustic surveys conducted in Vietnam from 2007 to 2018 were analyzed to investigate time patterns of Vietnamese lifestyle and changes in , , and  noise metrics when temporal interval segmentation in these metrics are adjusted. No significant difference in sleeping time, which means the nighttime interval, was found between Japanese and Vietnamese. However, the mealtime was different between the two countries. According to the analysis of the socio-acoustic surveys, traffic congestion hours, bedtime and wake-up time in the southern city are approximately one hour later than those in the northern cities in Vietnam, while those in the central cities are in between the northern and southern. This study finally suggests appropriate noise metrics and environmental quality standards for aircraft noise policy in Vietnam, referring to the current national and international noise standards and regulations.
Keywords: aircraft noise metrics; temporal patterns; environmental quality standards