Designing landscapes to minimize noise pollution

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: Pixabay

The Conversation website published an interesting piece by a landscape architect and someone whose title I had never heard of before, the director of ecoacoustics at Nottingham Trent University. Carlos Abrahams and Usue Ruiz-Arana write that landscapes can be designed to enhance natural sounds and minimize noise pollution. They give several examples, from small hills or ridges in a park near Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to urban superblocks in Barcelona that minimize traffic near homes. In Paris, noise-reducing pavements are being tested. In the United Kingdom, quiet is being protected in rural areas.

All these efforts should help make the world a quieter and better place for all.