Understanding the impact of urban noise pollution – project results released

In today's urban planning noise pollution is an under appreciated factor that can have negative impacts on our health and well-being.

The research project DemoVirPEN –Demonstrator for virtual planning and scenario analysis of invisible environmental factors with focus on noise in the city has developed a prototype planning tool, which through visualization and auralization (sound simulation) can provide greater understanding of the impact of various factors in sustainable urban development. A special challenge in visualization is how to display several types of parameters at the same time and how to use symbolism and photorealism in the same urban model. The prototype tool demonstrates how the user can move in a visual and auditory 3D environment with added visualization of selected factors like time-dynamic grid noise maps and stationary yearly-average noise levels, which arelinked to legislation and health effects. Target groups are decision makers and other users in urban planning as well as citizens in general.

As an outcomeof the project, thevideo was produced, which exemplifies how the planning tool could be used.