The CitySoundscapes project is a FEdA-funded project aiming to research the relationships between biodiversity, soundscapes and human well-being in an urban environment. Therefore, the project is divided into five work packages and will use three different research sites (Au, Harlaching, Neuperlach) within the city of Munich that represent three different type of urban structures. The team is dedicated to finding out about relationships between biodiversity and sound considering greenspace complexity and landscape imperviousness as well as about relationships between sound and human well-being. Data will also be collected using citizen science and the interdisciplinary results will be integrated into statistic models at neighbourhood- and city-scale. Validation and exploration of methods, studies, data and models as well as results will happen in workshops within the research sites, exploring art-science interfaces and citizen-science as participatory process to create a holistic understanding of soundscapes. All data will be used to create GIS-based tools, guidelines, policy briefs and brochures to inform governing, scientists and citizens.

The collected data will be made public for stakeholders and citizens at workshops, discussed, and integrated into models. Testing the transferability of the models to other cities, data will also be collected in a smaller scale in Berlin. All data will be shared to the highest resolution with the community, stakeholders and policy makers respecting legal framework. This will happen through databases, brochures, scientific publications, workshops, policy briefs, brochures, and GIS-based tools.

Partners

• Technische Universität München, Professorship for Urban Productive Ecosystems, Professorship for Forest and Agroforest Systems, Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management, Chair for Terrestrial Ecology
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research
• Technische Universität Berlin, Department of Engineering Acoustics, Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Acoustics
• Dawn Chorus & BIOTOPIA
• Referat für Klima- und Umweltschutz (RKU, RKU-GB III)
• Green City e.V.
• BUND Naturschutz Kreisgruppe München

Funding

BMBF-Forschungsinitiative zum Erhalt der Artenvielfalt (FEdA),  ‘BiodivGesundheit’

Project timeline

01.06.2023 – 31.05.2024 (phase 1)

01.10.2024 – 30.09.2027 (phase 2) 

Team and Contact 

Leonie Schulz (Project coodrination, TUM-UPE): leonie.schulz(at)tum.de

Elie Hanna (PostDoc, TUM-UPE): elie.hanna(at)tum.de 

Monika Egerer (Pl, TUM-UPE): monika.egerer(at)tum.de