Noise is the second-largest environmental health risk worldwide after air pollution, and a new EU-backed summary of research suggests the way cities arrange green spaces can affect how transport noise is experienced in different neighbourhoods.
Long-term exposure to high levels of noise has been linked to cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbance, reduced productivity and mental health problems, according to the World Health Organization, the European Commission pointed out in a release on Friday.
In the EU, long-term exposure to noise is estimated to cause 12,000 premature deaths and chronic high annoyance for 22 million people each year, the European Commission’s Science for Environment Policy service said.
The Commission has proposed a target to reduce the share of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30% by 2030 under its Zero Pollution Action Plan. Transport noise mainly comes from road, rail and air traffic.
Traditional measures such as traffic restrictions, sound-absorbing road surfaces and noise barriers can be costly and slow to put in place, the service said.
It noted that urban green spaces are increasingly being examined as an alternative approach that can also help cool cities, manage stormwater and support biodiversity.
What the Lyon study found
The research looked at land-use data from Lyon in France and analysed three urban areas measuring 2 km by 2 km, chosen to represent low, medium and high building densities, the Science for Environment Policy summary said.
Researchers combined open-source geographic data with crowdsourced noise measurements recorded on citizens’ mobile phones via the Noise Planet platform, then used spatial modelling tools to predict how noise was distributed across the three areas.
They examined 12 measures of green space “pattern” — such as patch size, shape complexity, connectivity, fragmentation and distribution — to see how different layouts were associated with noise levels in areas with different building densities.
The findings suggested that the same configuration of green space does not have the same noise-reducing effect in a low-density suburban area as it does in a dense urban core.
In low-density areas, the total amount of green space had the strongest association with lower noise levels, while in medium-density areas the clustering of green spaces mattered most.
In high-density areas, smaller, fragmented patches of green space were linked to reduced background noise levels, particularly when placed close to major roads and other noise sources.
The study was based on three areas in one city and further research is needed to validate the findings in other settings, including places with different climates, population densities and geographies, the Science for Environment Policy service said.
The research was published as “Examining how green space patterns affect noise distribution in urban areas with varying built-up densities” by Zhang, M. and colleagues in the "Journal of Environmental Management" in 2025.
