Environmental sound quality of our cities is an ongoing issue in our Western societies. More than half of people living in urban areas state that they are still annoyed by the noise produced by transport infrastructure, industry and leisure activities. Legislative action and technological advances have significantly reduced the noise emitted by these sources. Increasing of road, rail and air traffic, their spread over time and space and development of spare-time activities and tourism have partly reduced the effects of technical progress. The implementation in 2007 of the European Directive on Noise from transport infrastructures, requiring the establishment of noise observatories (like noise maps) was an important first step, mainly in the stakes awareness. In fact, the recommendations issued from the French environmental consultation (the « Grenelle de l’environnement ») results in an increased awareness of the urban population with respect to noise problems in urban areas and represents an opportunity to develop a more sustainable urban planning policy integrating sound dimension in design.

The Groupement de Recherche (GdR), a CNRS laboratory, is a partnership with l’IFSTTAR, PSA, RATP and SNCF.