Environmental noise and densification of cities – a paradox? Ivonne Verstappen 1 Norconsult AS Vestfjordgaten 4, 1338 Sandvika, Norway Kjersti Espeland 2 Statens vegvesen Nygårdsgaten 112, 5008 Bergen, Norway

ABSTRACT Densification of cities is used because of numerous benefits and fits well with sustainable develop- ment. Densification can however lead to disadvantages, especially related to environmental noise. In this paper, we ask: is it possible to restrict disadvantages by balancing out these with benefits? Access to quiet areas in cities plays an important part here, due to benefits related to well-being and health for inhabitants. We will give an overview of Norwegian guidelines on environmental noise and how these are imple- mented. We look at the situation from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s viewpoint and include the experiences from a consultant company. We present projects situated in Norway, a large country with a relatively low population density compared to most other European countries. How- ever, access to quiet areas isn’t optimal in the largest cities, which leads to problems related to en- vironmental noise and densification. Our experience is that it’s crucial to include noise assessment in the early stages of planning. To- gether we need to find a balance, where new roads and new dwelling areas can be realised without more negative than positive aspects. The final goal must be, that there is no paradox!

1. INTRODUCTION

In the beginning of the 1800s Norway had a population of about 883 000 people, with 90% living in rural areas [1]. From 1850 people started moving from farms and rural areas to urban areas. Today, more than 80% of the Norwegian population of more than 5,4 million people, lives in towns and cit- ies [2]. Such densification requires a new approach to urban planning, where one actively considers how the environment affects people. In this paper we will focus on road traffic noise and describe how it may be possible through inno- vative planning to maintain a good and sustainable environment when building new roads.

1 ivonne.verstappen@norconsult.com

2 kjersti.espeland@vegvesen.no

worm 2022

2. OVERVIEW OF NORWEGIAN GUIDELINES

2.1. State plan Since 1993 there has been a national guideline regarding spatial and transport planning in Norway [3]. One of the main goals of the guideline, is to conserve green areas, facilitate the use of public transport and concentrate residential areas around public transport hubs. The aim is to minimise hu- man encroachment on nature, take care of agricultural land and make room for people in towns. With increasing climate challenges and population density, one can see a need for making cities more liveable which is often associated with reducing or completely removing car traffic from cer- tain urban areas. The concept “walking city” [4] from the 1800s gained positive attention, leading to densification of Norwegian cities. In 2014 a new guideline regarding urban planning [5] was introduced, with more compact cities and environmentally friendly solutions. The aim of this guideline is to facilitate densification, as the Norwegian population continues to grow and move to urbane areas. Today almost 35% of the total Norwegian population is living in the five biggest urban areas [6]: Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger/Sand- nes, Trondheim and Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg. The remaining 65% is living in 985 urban areas! It’s easy to understand that densification leads to challenges regarding both air and noise pollution. To prevent pollution, the government wants to make more people use public transport instead of private cars. Densification allows for an effective use of public transport; however, it also leads to social and health problems [7]. Densification therefore requires complex planning, where one both must look at the city as a whole, and to the individual housing concepts. In 2005 Norway introduced guidelines for the handling of noise in land planning, guideline T-1442 [8], with an objective to minimise the effects of noise pollution. The document has been updated several times, most recently in 2021.

2.2. Guideline T-1442 The T-1442 considers the development of new sources of noise and new housing in proximity of existing sources of noise. Additionally, the guideline focuses on the evaluation of tranquil/quiet ar- eas. This guideline has however no legal status until it is part of a zoning plan. The T-1442 introduces a concept of noise zones depending on the calculated noise level from roads and other noise sources: • Red Zone: the area is normally considered unsuitable for noise sensitive purposes. • Yellow zone: careful planning is needed to satisfy both outdoor and indoor noise levels. • Green zone: areas that may be designated as quiet areas and used for recreation, nature experi- ence or leisure interests. As from the 2021 version of this guideline, one must show that three criteria are fulfilled: • Satisfactory indoor noise levels. • Access to an outdoor living area with a satisfactory noise level. • Quiet facade.

worm 2022

The above criteria are well supported by recent studies on health, sleeping and concentration in re- lation to traffic noise. One study [9] showed a correlation between access to a quiet facade and re- duction in nuisance and self-reported sleep disturbance. Another study in Sweden [10] concluded that access to at least one quiet facade had a positive impact on concentration and sleep. The find- ings on the health benefits of a quiet facade from this study are summarised in Table 1. Table 1: Summary of health effects of road traffic noise, benefit of a quiet side, and sound levels [11].

worm 2022

Besides access to a quiet side in one’s dwelling, it’s important to have access to quiet areas close to where one’s living, so people easily can “get away” from environmental noise in their daily life. Various studies indicate a positive effect on health when people spend more time in natural areas [12]. The Norwegian guideline T-1442 also encourages the municipalities to identify quiet areas with an aim to preserve those areas from new source of environmental noise. The noise levels representative for quiet areas that can be accepted by municipalities can vary depending on the use and nature of the area and are shown in the zoning plan. When planning new roads in the vicinity of those areas, this will help to ensure that the noise levels in these areas won’t increase too much.

Hae

3. EXPERIENCE FROM PRACTICE

Even though Norway has a low average population density relative to other European countries, it has a comparable population density in the major urban areas. For example, average population density in urban areas in Norway is 1989 persons/km 2 [6], while Glasgow has 3521 persons/km 2 [13]. Environmental noise problems and potential infrastructure solutions are therefore not unique to Norway. In the meantime, there is a large differentiation within the country. If you look at Nor- way as a whole, the population density is about 16 persons/km 2 . Because of this, most people don’t think too much about Norway as a country where there is a lack of space and thus not a country where one expects challenges related to environmental noise. Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) and Norconsult (NO) has collaborated on several major infrastructure projects where it was important to find good technical solutions but also re- spect a good and sustainable environment for the people living there. Example projects are de- scribed further in this paper.

3.1. Traditional planning The European route E 39 starts in Klett (middle of Norway) and ends in Aalborg, Denmark. This is the main road along the Norwegian west coast (E39). The road is going in the near outskirts and sometimes through the municipal centres along the coast. With a general increase in population - and a general increase in transportation, this can give unsatisfactory living areas, both regarding pollution such as noise and air, and can also often lead to traffic congestion. Norway's second largest city, Bergen, is located on the western coast, se Figure 1. South of Bergen a town centre is situated where the light rail between the airport and the city centre of Bergen has a stop. Several town centres along the light railway line south of Bergen are planned by Bergen mu- nicipality for further densification. An obstacle for these plans is the traffic situation, contributing to significant noise pollution. There are several ongoing projects along E39, where the main goal is to minimise transport time be- tween the areas along the western part of Norway. One of these ongoing projects includes a new part of the E39, that coincide with the National route 580. Today, the national route 580 is passing through the town centre Rådal/Lagunen. It is therefore a goal to reroute this main traffic away from the town centre, thus minimising transportation time and avoid traffic congestion. By moving the main traffic away from the town centre, this will also give benefits regarding environmental noise and air pollution for the residents in and around the town centre. In the meantime, and just as important, moving the main road away from the town centre, will give the municipality access to new areas with better sound environment, where they can realise densifi- cation projects.

3.2. Innovative planning As the example above shows, satisfactory planning solution from the noise perspective may be achieved with a road relocation to less populated areas. However, in certain situations it may not be possible or practical to move, moreover this can lead to new challenges in the future. One must therefore think anew, so other, and better solutions than just “moving the problem” can be found. We will present another ongoing project from NPRA and NO, the E18 in the Oslo area.

worm 2022

The project is part of a European route that runs from Craigavon in Northern Ireland to Saint Peters- burg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In Norway the route runs from Kristiansand in the southwest, along Oslo and further to the Swedish border in the east, se Figure 1.

worm 2022

Figure 1: Roadmap showing the example projects [14]. E18 is an important route through the southern part of Norway and carries, around Oslo, an average of 90,000 vehicles per day with a high proportion of heavy vehicles. Geographically it’s located close to the waterfront and around Oslo there are dwellings located very close to the route as shown in Figure 2. The road has a significant noise and air pollution impact upon the surrounding urban areas along its route. In addition, the road is a physical barrier that separates areas on either side and prevents urban and local development.

Figure 2: View from the east to the west, with E18 in the middle [15]. For NPRA, E18 Western Corridor is one of Norway's largest development projects. In addition to strengthened traffic safety and improved traffic flow, especially for commercial traffic, the project aims to reduce car use and at the same time encourage more people to travel by public transport, cy- cle or walk. The most important measure to achieve this, is to separate long-distance traffic from local traffic. Parts of the E18 will be placed under a lid or in a tunnel and the local facilities for cy- clist and pedestrians will be upgraded. Thus, providing opportunities for urban and local develop- ment and most of all, it helps to reduce the noise and air/dust pollution for those who live in the area. But how can one assure to achieve all this? NPRA has applied for certification in line with CEEQUAL from the zoning plan to completion of this project. CEEQUAL is the world leading sus- tainability assessment, rating and awards scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping, and public realm projects [16]. The ambition for the project is to achieve at least «Excellent» score, which is the second highest value. NPRA and NO have been working closely together, when evaluating the different alternatives. In a more classical approach, most of this evaluation is based on economic consequences of building and maintaining a road. In this project, however, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the United Nations [17] were used as an evaluation basis, to ensure that consideration for both the environment, society and the economy is balanced in a sustainable way. The redevelopment of the E18 in a long tunnel was chosen as a result. This alternative had the highest costs, but since it had a better score on the non-economic aspects, like environment, including noise and air pollution, it was preferable over other alternatives. It will also be possible to develop the area above of the tunnel, thus diminishing the existing barrier. Detailed evaluation of noise impacts will be made in the sub- sequent phases of the project, together with urban planning for the area.

worm 2022

4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Our experience is that it’s crucial to include noise assessment in the early stages of planning. Using both knowledge from traditional approaches, combined with new tools like CEEQUAL, will give us the opportunity to find better and more sustainable solutions. It’s crucial that the different partners in these projects work closely together and are not only con- cerned with short time economics when evaluating different solutions. In the short-term, projects might become more expensive when environmental measures are preferred. Nevertheless, by con- sidering the long-term positive aspects, these expensive solutions will be evaluated differently and will be ranked differently. More expensive mitigating measures related to environmental noise, will lead to improved health and well-being of residents. Besides, it can give more opportunities for new sustainable development. The projects described in this paper show that further densification of cities and noise problems as- sociated with the need for additional transportation does not have to create a paradox. Careful plan- ning for densification allows greater opportunities for effective public transport which results in lesser noise pollution. And where new or redeveloped roads are required, it was demonstrated that a long-term view in planning infrastructure would result in sustainable solutions that recognises the importance of health effects. 5. REFERENCES

1. Sandvik, H. Hvordan bodde folk på 1800.tallet, (2020) www.Norgeshistorie.no . 2. Statistics Norway, www.ssb.no/befolkning/faktaside/befolkningen . 3. Miljøverndepartementet, Rikspolitiske retningslinjer for samordnet areal og transportplanleg-

ging (1993). 4. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_city. 5. Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet, Statlige planretningslinjer for samordnet bolig-,

areal- og transportplanlegging (2014). 6. Statistics Norway, www.ssb.no/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/tettsteders-befolkning-og-areal . 7. Berghauser Pont, M.Y, Perg, P. G., Haupt P.A. and Heyman, A., A systematic review of the sci-

entifically demonstrated effects of densification. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 588, 052031 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/588/5/052031 (2020). 8. Klima og miljødepartementet, Retningslinje for behandling av støy i arealplanlegging

T-1442 (2021). 9. Forssén, J., Gustafson, A, Berghauser Pont, M, Haeger-Eugensson, M, Achberger C, Rosholm,

N., Effects of urban morphology on traffic noise: A parameter study including indirect noise ex- posure and estimated health impact, Applied Acoustics 186 (2022). 10. Bodin, T., Björk, J., Ardö, J., Albin, M., Annoyance, Sleep and Concentration Problems due to

Combined Traffic Noise and the Benefit of Quiet Side. Environmental Research and Public Health , 12(2), 1612-1628 (2015). 11. Öhrström, E., Skånberg, A., Svensson, H., Gidlöf-Gunnarsson, A., Effects of road traffic noise

and the benefit of access to quietness. Journal of Sound and Vibration, Volume 295, Issues 1-2 , p 40-59 (2006).

worm 2022

12. Williams, F. The nature fix – why nature makes us happier, healthier and more creative ISBN

978-0-393-35557-4 (2017). 13. Population UK https://www.ukpopulation.org/glasgow-population/. 14. Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) https://vegkart.atlas.vegvesen.no/. 15. Bærum municipality https://www.baerum.kommune.no/politikk-og-samfunn/samfunnsutvi-

kling/stedsutvikling-i-barum/sandvika3/sandvika-sjofront/ . 16. BRE Group https://www.bregroup.com/products/ceequal/ . 17. United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) https://sdgs.un.org/goals .

worm 2022