Managing 'Tranquil Spaces' in Urban Environments

摘要

The word tranquillity appears in numerous policy and planning documents and is often used as a measure of environmental quality, especially in rural areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty, such as National Parks. However, there exist within or around the major conurbations of the United Kingdom, over 25,000 public parks and gardens, which despite being located in predominantly urban environments, can, with sensitive landscape management, be considered as 'tranquil space'. Such restorative 'tranquil' environments need to comprise sufficient sensory stimulation to keep us engaged, whilst at the same time providing the opportunity for relaxation and reflection. One essential aspect in safeguarding existing, or developing new 'tranquil space', is understanding the optimum relationship between the soundscape and the visual composition of a location. The current research seeks to validate the 'Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool' previously proposed by the authors. An analysis of the subjective measure of tranquillity for environments comprising between 40% - 90% manmade features is being carried out. By using audio-visual tranquillity ratings obtained from 11 sites across the UK and objective measurements taken in the laboratory, it has been possible to establish that under certain conditions tranquil space can be recreated in urban environments. This can be achieved by controlling the maximum sound pressure levels and the proportion of natural features presented to a subject in an urban space.