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Video length: 4 min
Urban planning: materials, a shield against noise pollution
Urban planning: materials, a shield against noise pollution
(France 2)
According to the European Commission, France is not doing enough to reduce daily noise in large cities. However, solutions exist and can be found in town planning and materials.
On the Place de la République in Paris, noise is omnipresent. Christian Hugonet, acoustic engineer, measures the sound of the city “which always remains at 70 decibels”i.e. beyond the noise threshold established by the WHO, around 55 decibels. The cause could be urban planning. According to Christian Hugonet, surfaces like facades are “reflective”.
20 km further, near the A86 and its more than 100,000 vehicles per day, Didier Blanchard imagined a sensory journey to gradually cut off from the tumult of traffic thanks to a wall made of pozzolan, a volcanic stone with properties absorbent. In a laboratory near Lyon, the sound properties of biosourced materials are tested. In the heart of the city, a building was built with raw earth formed like concrete, which helps trap sounds.
Watch the full report in the video above