ABSTRACT
Cities are noisy places. People in them are bombarded with cacophonous sounds, which can have adverse effects on their health, quality of life, and experience of their city or local neighborhood. The current urban management paradigm used by urban planners and city managers generally neglects the sounds within a place, or focuses on noise as measured by decibels and citizen complaints about what is ‘noisy’ in their city. This approach and these diagnostics are too narrow; they underestimate how sounds (positive ones and negative ones – known as ‘noise’) impact on people’s health, well-being, experience of place, and quality of life in their city. Urban citizens have the right to high-quality acoustic environments and to not be subjected to those that are detrimental to their health.
