Environmental noise is a major urban stressor, affecting both physical and mental health and diminishing quality of life (WHO, 2018; EEA, 2020). Conventional noise assessments, often based on averaged metrics such as Lden and Lnight, fail to capture the subjective and context-dependent nature of sound perception (Herranz-Pascual et al., 2010; Kang, 2023). This exploratory study examines the relationship between soundscapes and the built environment in the Rotterdam port area, using Oud-Charlois as a pilot site. By integrating multiple scales—from the city level to neighbourhood functional distribution, street profiles, and building typologies—the study combines insights from the literature with empirical data, including GIS datasets, satellite imagery, and geolocated noise complaints. Findings indicate that lively soundscapes are associated with commercial activity, calm soundscapes with natural green spaces, and chaotic soundscapes with traffic-intensive areas (Margaritis & Kang, 2017; Kang et al., 2018). The results underscore the limitations of objective noise maps in representing lived soundscapes and suggest that green infrastructure, street design, and building typologies shape acoustic perception. Future research should integrate sensor-based noise measurements with citizen science approaches, adopt longitudinal methods to capture temporal dynamics, and account for socio-demographic context.

Urban heat stress and noise significantly impact the health and well-being of urban inhabitants. This biometeorological study analyses microclimate, sound, and human perceptions in three vegetative courtyards near Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. The courtyards operate with sixteen Kestrel heat-stress trackers and six Munisense microphones for year-round microclimate and soundscape monitoring to inform urban design strategies to improve pedestrian thermal and acoustical comfort.

A human measurement campaign was conducted on 23-July-2024, involving 24 student participants (aged 22–28) equipped with skin-temperature sensors (iButtons) and heart-rate wristbands (Polar). They completed mobile questionnaires on ‘right-here-right-now’ comfort perceptions during three transect walks following a stop-and-go protocol (3-minute intervals, total duration: 60 minutes). Walks spanned three courtyards: one with a vertical vegetative wall, another with 36 Tilia × europaea potted trees, and a third featuring a slanted roof with an overhang. The study examines the interplay between heat, noise, and environmental perceptions across courtyard designs.

Findings suggest overhangs provide significant cooling (UTCI -10°C) and noise reduction due to sound shadowing. Slanted roofs scatter aircraft noise (LAeq -5 dB(A)) but have minimal cooling effects. Green walls diffract sound but reflect short-wave radiation, limiting cooling. Trees intercept solar heat effectively but offer limited aircraft noise reduction due to foliage gaps.

Perceptual analyses indicate the tree courtyard offered optimal thermal (TSV) and acoustical comfort (ASV). A mixed-linear regression analysis tested five hypotheses on TSV, ASV, UTCI, and LAeq. One hypothesis was rejected: heat stress and aircraft noise do not confound acoustical perception. Two were partially supported: thermal and/or acoustical perception may confound acoustical perception. Two were fully supported: aircraft noise can confound thermal perceptions and acoustical perception can confound thermal perception.

The discussions and conclusions present evidence-based design and planning strategies to mitigate environmental stressors and enhance pedestrians' psychological and behavioural adaptations to heat and noise in urban environments.

The growing population of people living with dementia demands innovative architectural solutions that prioritize wellbeing. Floor layouts significantly affect the quality of life for people living with dementia, but the nuances of perceived user experience remain a challenging criterion to evaluate during the early design stages. Visual sightlines are one of the key aspects for dementia-inclusive design where machine learning (ML) provides decision-support means to validate early-stage designs. In this study, an isovist-based quantification scheme is proposed to capture visual access data to evaluate the extent of compliance of floor layouts with respect to dementia design principles (DDP). The visual access quality labels are determined by the number of isovists that satisfy the visual access requirement for their respective DDPs, thereby ensuring a consistent and objective measurement of visual access. 18 unique spatial features were tested using feature filtering methods to predict visual access quality labels. The framework bridges qualitative design principles with quantitative methods, introducing a scalable approach for evaluating visual access in the context of dementia-friendly design. The ML model was evaluated using individual class output and multi-output evaluation metrics based on 7 feature inputs and 2 class outputs, achieving 84–87% accuracy on an individual class and 72% on the subset accuracy metric. The results suggest a viable pathway for developing ML support tools to provide feedback on DDP compliance at an early design stage.

Vertical greenery systems (VGS) are recognized for providing a range of ecosystem services (ESS), including biodiversity enhancement, property value increase, and stormwater management. However, there are significant challenges in comparing VGS designs due to the lack of standardized metrics and the limited understanding of their integrated performance across multiple ESS. This study introduces a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to assess and compare the full spectrum of ESS provided by VGS. Through an extensive literature search, VGS typologies, system components, and performance metrics were identified for ESS and synthesized. The application of the MCDM model was tested in a case study, showcasing its potential for improving decision-making and selection of VGS designs. Findings from the literature review stress a need for standardizing research methods, improving data quantification, and explaining and modelling ESS interactions. The study concludes that the MCDM framework supports context-specific evaluations, while further refinement is needed to reduce subjectivity and to include emerging ESS. These approaches are critical for advancing both research and practical applications in green infrastructure.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of different urban building geometries (six courtyards, two canyons, two slabs) on heat mitigation and aircraft noise attenuation, in order to support an evidence-based retrofit plan for future airport neighborhoods. Using ’Pachyderm + ENVI-met simulations + field measurements’, we found that the slanted-roof, low-rise courtyard exhibited optimal acoustic-thermal performance (SPLmin = 71.1 dB(A), σU T CI < 5 ◦C), while the mid-rise canyon demonstrated limited performance (SPLmin = 93.4 dB(A), σU T CI > 10 ◦C). These findings were observed under averaged boundary conditions of a 140 dB(A) aircraft sound source and a diurnal MRT range of 60 ◦C on a heatwave day in July 2022.

Analyzing the impact of aircraft noise on urban areas requires specific consideration of sound propagation over long distances, which is not typically covered by tools designed for indoor acoustics. Although it is unclear to what extent existing parametric tools that combine 3D modeling and acoustic simulation can accurately replicate these spatial scales, they provide a valuable means of exploring design options and optimizing performance. One such tool, Pachyderm, a numerical model based on geometrical acoustics, was used to simulate a field lab near Schiphol Airport to assess its applicability for urban acoustics simulation. The simulation results were compared to in-situ measurements, with a focus on differentiating the effect of air noise attenuation based on varying building shapes and the accuracy of the resulting sound pressure level values. The most decisive factors in reducing noise in the courtyard were found to be the building’s orientation and slope relative to the sound source. However, as the design complexity increased with the addition of features such as shielding, the accuracy of the simulation results decreased.

Aircraft noise is a major stressor for communities in the vicinity of airports. Aircraft noise prediction models omit the built environment, based on an implicit assumption that the impact of buildings on the propagation of aircraft noise is neglectable. In this article a study is presented in which aircraft noise levels were measured near walls facing towards and away from aircraft flyovers in an urban test environment near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The test environment comprises three adjacent courtyards, each enclosed by stacked shipping containers. To examine the influence of street geometry on aircraft noise, specifically for slanted roofs and building insets, the shipping containers were stacked in a different pattern around each courtyard. In total, sound levels for 2383 aircraft flyovers were analysed across five months at ten microphone positions within the courtyards, for both arrivals and departures. Depending on the geometry of the courtyards, mean differences (L_A,max) between facades with- and without a line of sight towards the aircraft ranged between −1,3dBA and 5,0dBA for arrivals, and 8,7dBA and 13,6dBA for departures. SEL values ranged between between −0,8dBA and 4,3dBA for arrivals, and 8,1dBA and 11,6dBA for departures. The results suggest that slanted roofs perpendicular to the flight direction deflect incident sound, substantially reducing the sounds levels inside courtyards. Contrarily, building insets at building sides facing away from the flight paths did not reduce sound levels underneath the overhangs significantly. The findings stress the importance of architectural and urban design to mitigate aircraft noise.

Vertical greening can be used to absorb and scatter sound, which may reduce noise levels in street canyons. In this paper, a literature review is presented, which combines results and methods from over 40 individual studies. The article describes the guiding principles behind the acoustic effects of vertical greening and provides an overview of the prevalent research methods. The article shows that vertical greenery is effective for the reduction of mid and high frequency noise, unless air cavities or resonators are introduced inside, or behind, the systems. The review also reflects on studies with an emphasis on the application of vertical greenery in streets and urban blocks. The aim of the article is to set out the key design parameters for noise reduction that can be achieved by vertical greening, focusing on designers and engineers.

Aircraft are a source of noise pollution in areas surrounding airports. Buildings shield or amplify local sound levels, albeit that the level of shielding varies considerably. The sound pressure levels reaching ground receivers in the built environment depend on flight position relative to the receiver, atmospheric and weather effects, and the composition of the surrounding buildings. Their combined effect on local ground sound levels and noise shielding remains unclear however.

The impact of urban and architectural design on the local attenuation of aircraft noise is studied in a full-scale field lab near Amsterdam Schiphol airport. In the experiment, two microphones and a weather station collected sound and meteorological data. The measurements are combined with spatial aircraft radar data for a period of one month. Statistical analyses are conducted to gain insights into the causes of variance in shielding effects.

This paper presents a method to combine and analyse sound, flight and meteorological data, for one-second time intervals. Aircraft orientation, obstruction from buildings between source and receiver, operation type and propulsion type influence the building shielding for this case study. The orientation of airplanes relative to the field lab records the highest effect on the shielding of the analysed variables (R^2=0.58).

Aircraft noise is a major source of noise pollution in areas close to airports. Previous studies showed that the design of the urban and architectural context affects local sound levels. Due to surface reflections and edge diffraction, sound levels are reduced or amplified, depending on building geometry and surface materials. Compared to other traffic sources in cities, aircraft noise is currently neither integrated in sound prediction models, nor validated for such purposes. To validate the results from previous computational studies, a full scale experiment was set up. In the experiment, sound and weather data is collected which is used to identify the influence of building geometry and cladding on the propagation of aircraft noise. A subset of the measurements collected on days without wind was used to validate a method for measurements with scale models in an an-echoic room. Based on a series of discrete mono-pole source positions, three flight paths were simulated. Measurements in the an-echoic room were compared with the measurements in the full-scale field lab. This paper presents the results of the experiment and sets out a method for scale model experiments focusing on the prediction of sound in urban canyons for overhead sound sources.

Aircraft noise prediction models traditionally omit buildings to optimize speed. Buildings and vertical surfaces scatter and reflect incident sound, affecting sound levels around buildings and within streets. Previous studies showed the impact of buildings on aircraft noise, based on a small number of measurements. Based on additional numerical models, it was found that the shape of buildings, i.e. a slanted or overhanging roof, lead to lower sound levels compared to streets comprised of vertical and flat surfaces. To examine these findings, a full-scale field lab was built near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, comprised of shipping containers. The experiment consists of three courtyards, in which ten microphones measure sound levels from aircraft flyovers, near facades facing towards and away from the sound source (airplanes). Measurements are matched with meteorological and radar data, which gives information about the position of aircraft and the local weather conditions. The measurements show substantial differences depending on the position, ranging between 8/9dB(A) for a courtyard with straight facades, up to 14dB(A) for facades in a courtyard with a slanted facade and a building inset. Results can be used to rethink the way areas near airports are designed.