The sound of new urbanism

Abstract

Understanding the nexus between soundscape and urban form is challenging. This research explores soundscapes in new urbanist (NU) developments to contribute to the urban form studies of sound environment. NU developments promote the quality of life (QoL) in dense, walkable settings with mixed-use buildings. An under-examined, yet critical aspect of New Urbanism approach is the soundscape. To study the relationship between soundscape and NU, this research investigates soundscapes from NU developments by assessing preference of 95 residents and visitors as well as on-site sound pressure level (SPL) measurements within five NU developments in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Findings suggest that soundscapes of NU developments are overall at the high SPLs and differ at various development typologies with significant implications for urban form. The research proposes recognizing the sound-related attributes of urban form so that sound-related resolutions can be applied to other geographical and planning practices. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.