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      Revisiting the Concept of Quietness in the Urban Environment—Towards Ecosystems’ Health and Human Well-Being

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          Abstract

          There is plenty of proof that environmental noise is a major pollutant in the urban environment. Several approaches were successfully applied for its calculation, visualization, prediction and mitigation. The goal of all strategy plans regards its reduction and the creation of quietness. This study aims to revisit the concept of quietness in the urban environment and attempts to portray a new understanding of the specific phenomena. “Quietness” as a term retains an ambiguity, and so far, it can be described as the lack of something, meaning the lack of noise that is portrayed by means of intensity. Several studies describe quietness as the combination of perceptual soundscape elements and contextual factors that can be quantified, combined, weighed and used as indicators of healthy soundscapes. In this research, the focus is on setting aside all indicators, either measuring the intensity or contextual ones and use solely quantifiable metrics regarding the acoustic environment, thus introducing a new composite index called the composite urban quietness index (CUQI). After testing the CUQI, in order to verify the results of previous research regarding the identification of quiet Areas in the city of Mytilene (Lesbos Island, Greece), the study concludes that CUQI is efficiently functioning even in this early stage of development.

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                18 March 2021
                March 2021
                : 18
                : 6
                : 3151
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Acoustic Ecology Laboratory, Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, Greece; economou@ 123456env.aegean.gr (C.E.); matsinos@ 123456aegean.gr (Y.G.M.)
                [2 ]Department of Economics and Regional Development, School of Sciences of Economics and Public Administration, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, 17671 Athens, Greece; kyvelou@ 123456panteion.gr
                [3 ]Institute for Environmental Research & Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Athens, Greece; nvotsi@ 123456noa.gr
                [4 ]School of Architectural Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece; akarapos@ 123456arch.duth.gr
                Author notes
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5938-0066
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8144-7597
                Article
                ijerph-18-03151
                10.3390/ijerph18063151
                8003311
                80cc60de-7ed1-4a9d-8906-92629e3e64e4
                © 2021 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 25 February 2021
                : 16 March 2021
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                environmental noise,quietness,acoustic environment,soundscape,composite index,urban quiet

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