Road traffic noise disease burden estimates for a model study of varying urban morphology cases

Paper in proceeding, 2021

In a model study containing 31 different building morphologies in an urban setting, road traffic noise exposure has been calculated and analysed. For five of the building morphologies also vegetation surfaces on facades and roofs were studied. The facade exposure levels were analysed for both smaller (single-sided) flats and larger (floor-through) flats, considering the direct exposure from the roads as well as the non-direct exposure at noise-shielded positions like inner yards, applying a noise mapping software in combination with a prediction model for the non-direct exposure. Using noise indicators Lden and Lnight, the disease burden, in terms of DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) per person, was estimated and analysed, via predictions of annoyance and sleep disturbance. As general trends, perimeter blocks were shown to perform better than morphologies with less enclosed yards and densification was shown to result in improved performance, assuming a constant traffic flow. In addition, complementing the perimeter blocks with towers was shown to enable improvement. Furthermore, traffic concentration by locating all local traffic to a single road was shown to be beneficial, increasingly so by widening the road. The use of facade vegetation was shown to result in significant overall improvement.