Soundscapes across Cityscapes (CitySoundScapes): Relationships between biodiversity, sound and human health in urban green infrastructure
Description
The study investigates how urban green spaces need to be structured, equipped and distributed in urban space in order to be effective as habitats for biodiversity and as health resources for visitors. The experience and interpretation of the environment is a multi-sensory process: sensory impressions interact, evoke emotional reactions and are therefore of great importance for well-being in urban space.
The study focuses on measurable and perceived sounds and soundscapes, indicators of animal diversity (bird calls), environmental features (trees in the wind, water) and stress factors (traffic, construction works). By conducting sound walks, possible links between biodiversity and effects on mental health (well-being) will be investigated. For this purpose, the project follows a transdisciplinary approach involving citizens, civil society organisations and decision-makers from the environmental, nature conservation, social and health sector in order to develop a method for assessing and characterising biodiversity (structural plant diversity, bird diversity) and its impact on human well-being (acoustic comfort, recreation).
In particular, we investigate: (1) What are the relationships between the structural complexity of green spaces, their soundscapes and their biodiversity? (2) What are the relationships between the soundscapes, acoustic comfort and recreation and how are these effects influenced by social factors? (3) Where are places with high biodiversity, high acoustic comfort and high recreational effects with a (positive) effect on well-being located in the city? (4) How can such spaces be comprehensively promoted in urban planning?
In the first one-year funding phase, LMU is conducting a feasibility study in cooperation with TU Berlin and TU Munich to investigate the psychoacoustic effects of different biodiverse green structures on human well-being and recreational potential.
Consortium partners
Chair ofor Urban Productive Ecosystems at TU Munich (lead partner)
Professorship of Forest and Agroforest Systems at TU Munich
Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management at TU Munich
Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Technical Acoustics at TU Berlin
Project duration
01.06.2023 - 31.05.2024
Funding
The one-year preliminary project phase is funded by The Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Contact persons
Dr. Michaela Coenen (MPH postgrad.)
coenen@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de
Dr. Gisela Immich, MSc
gimmich@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de
Stephan Voss, MSc
svoss@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de