The sound of new urbanism

ABSTRACT

Understanding the nexus between soundscape and urban form is challenging. This research explores soundscapes in new urbanist (NU) developments to contribute to the urban form studies of sound environment. NU developments promote the quality of life (QoL) in dense, walkable settings with mixed-use buildings. An under-examined, yet critical aspect of New Urbanism approach is the soundscape. To study the relationship between soundscape and NU, this research investigates soundscapes from NU developments by assessing preference of 95 residents and visitors as well as on-site sound pressure level (SPL) measurements within five NU developments in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Findings suggest that soundscapes of NU developments are overall at the high SPLs and differ at various development typologies with significant implications for urban form. The research proposes recognizing the sound-related attributes of urban form so that sound-related resolutions can be applied to other geographical and planning practices.

KEYWORDS:

• New urbanism
• urban form
• sound
• noise
• soundscape

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions and also participants of the study as well as CNU and design companies to share information and data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yalcin Yildirim

Yalcin Yildirim holds a doctorate in urban planning and public policy at the University of Texas at Arlington. his research interests include sound, noise, urban design, and various urban form. he is currently a lecturer and a research associate at the Bursa Technical University, department of landscape architecture.

Mahyar Arefi

Mahyar Arefi received his PhD in planning from the University of Southern California (1999), and is a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs. He also co-edits Urban Design International, and has published extensively on various planning and urban design theory and practice.