framework to protect urban districts from the traffic noise in Elkhoms city, Libya

ABSTRACT

Similar to several cities all over the world, the urban districts of Elkhoms city, Libya, suffer from traffic noise, which results mainly from the rapid urbanization and extension towards the highways. The influence of this noise affects negatively different activities and uses within the city structure residential, educational and health. This paper aims to propose a framework to address the traffic noise problems in Elkhoms city. To attain this aim, the paper, firstly, discusses the nature of traffic problems and noise levels in Elkhoms city. Afterwards, the researcher demonstrates the procedures of the traffic noise mitigation, which can be applied at two levels planning and architectural. At planning level, the attenuation takes place at the noise sources such as urban and arterial roads. The applications at the architectural levels focus on the noise receiver; buildings in this case which represent the last protected line from noise. Later, the researcher carries out several measures to evaluate the influence of planning and architectural applications to reduce the noise levels in Elkhoms city. The paper ends with a number of planning and architectural criteria which should be taken into account to reduce the influence of traffic noise