Obtaining a good acoustic quality in urban areas is a major environmental task within the European Union that goes far beyond noise control. Cities feel a high need to create and preserve outdoor environments that are supportive for health and wellbeing – a task that requires a comprehensive view on the future development of cities including their transport and industrial infrastructure.

To cope with the complexity of this task, consequent application of a transdisciplinary approach is needed. Urban and traffic planning, architectural aspects, noise control, and soundscaping, as well as political and administrative processes, must be considered early in the planning stages. Also, the affected members of the public must be adequately involved.

This may be facilitated by modern presentation methods, such as auralization which allow perceiving and assessing the acoustic quality of an environment even before it has been built.

Finally, by using a holistic approach, existing and novel tools will be combined to achieve optimal solutions for an acoustically attractive environment.

The symposium "Urban SOUND Planning" for city representatives, planners, and all stakeholders involved in urban planning will present the tools developed within the EU-funded SONORUS project, as well as their practical application to specific test cases provided by the project’s city partners Gothenburg, Antwerp, Brighton, and Rome.

The audience may bring their own experiences for discussion. The symposium will be broadcasted via the internet.