Relationship between traffic noise resistance and village form in China

The aim of this study is to determine methods to reduce traffic noise levels and to enlarge quiet areas in the rural residential areas in China by controlling relative locations and urban morphological parameters. Six urban morphological parameters, including complete aspect ratio (CAR), landscape shape index of buildings (LSI_B), patch density (PD), road length fraction (RLF), road intersections fraction (RIF), and landscape shape index of roads (LSI_R), are selected and developed. The relationships of the urban morphological parameters to the spatial noise level attenuation and the size of noisy areas were subsequently determined. The effects of motorway horizontal distances and orientations are considered based on spatial traffic noise attenuation. The results indicate that the effect of distance on traffic noise level attenuation is significant and varies widely among the 60 sites studied. A distance of more than 600 m can make the acoustic environment suitable as residential areas. Changing the orientation relationship between the village and the motorway is not always effective for increasing the traffic noise resistance of villages. The results highlight the importance of using urban morphology to improve the traffic noise resistance of rural residential areas; LSI_B and LSI_ R are the most important parameters that correlate to the traffic noise attenuation of motorways.