What is a soundscape intervention? Exploring definitions and identification criteria and a platform to gather real-world examples

Possible definitions for the concept of “soundscape intervention” and criteria that could be used to identify stages in a design-oriented framework are discussed. This is in line with the Part 4 of the ISO 12913 series on soundscape being currently developed. For some time already, the soundscape concept has attracted attention from policymakers and practitioners of the built environment, as it advocates for more engagement with local communities in design processes. This is reflected in several documents published by national and international agencies calling for consultation and participation of the public in the definition of soundscape interventions. However, this intended framework is still trying to bridge a gap with the planning and design community, possibly for the lack of conspicuous empirical evidence (i.e., case studies and success stories) showing the benefits provided by the soundscape approach, and some lack of consensus about what a “soundscape intervention” is in the first place. Therefore, an online platform will be presented that can be used for data collection of soundscape intervention examples. This relates to the preliminary stage of a project called “Catalogue of Soundscape Interventions (CSI)”, which has the long-term goal of observing frequent/recurring situations or strategies that can be collated into design toolkits and formulate design briefs that local authorities will be using to communicate with soundscape consultants.