Linz Charter – Guideline for Urban Development' Architecture, Traffic and Urban Planning have become 'Deaf' Disciplines in which Acoustic Consequences are Treated Without Concern

摘要

Why should acoustics become a topic of the city of the future? 1. Because our acoustic living environment has been radically changed by technical revolutions and requires new patterns of behavior. 2. Because our ears are open 24 hours a day – from the 50th day after conception to our last breath of life, every day, every minute, every second, without interruption. 3. Because access to our body is possible through the ears without interruption – just as through the respiratory organs. 4. Because permanent stress due to noise and background music is just as harmful to people as brief periods of peak stress. 5. Because hearing damage is accompanied by the risk of damage to the sense of balance and orientation, which are also located in the ear. 6. Because people cannot defend themselves against acoustic dangers, because hearing, balance and orientation are unconscious processes, just like breathing. 7. Because every person has a right to an acoustic environment that does not cause health damage. 8. Because every type of construction and urban planning is acoustic design, regardless of whether this is done consciously or unconsciously. 9. Because noise impinges on children's ability to learn in school. Scientific studies have shown that students' performance drops by 10 to 25 percent even with moderate background noise, and permanent noise can increase hyperactivity and weak concentration among children. 10. Because "noise impaired hearing" is the most frequently occurring recognized occupational disease. 11. Because noise has such a massive impact on the human circulatory system that according to an estimate by the German Federal Environmental Agency about 4,000 heart attacks each year in Germany are due to traffic noise. 12. Because the acoustic living environment is increasingly becoming a characteristic of social differentiation ("those who are poor, live with noise").