Acoustic Challenges in Temporary Urbanism: European Insights and Prototyping Pathway

This thesis investigates the role of noise as a structural barrier in urban environments, with a particular focus on temporary and adaptive street interventions. Successful urban transformation relies on activating public spaces and prioritising human use over car-dominated streets, while generating vibrant, lively environments. However, such transformations inevitably produce an increase of social noise, such as conversations, play and cultural events. While these are a sign of success, they can also trigger conflicts, legal disputes and resistance among residents and stakeholders. Drawing on practical experience and analysis of projects across Germany, as well as international examples, the research identifies noise as a recurring and often underappreciated obstacle to the acceptance, scalability, and overall success of tactical urbanism initiatives. This raises a critical question: What if urban noise could be mitigated thoughtfully and aesthetically? By integrating noise-reducing solutions into urban furniture and modular, multifunctional street elements, interventions can reduce resistance, accelerate implementation, and minimise negative side effects, enabling cities to become both lively and harmonious spaces for social interaction. In order to explore this phenomenon systematically, the study combined a literature review with qualitative research, including semi-structured interviews and surveys across multiple European cities such as Munich, Mannheim, and Helsinki. Interviews with municipal officials, night-time economy officers, urban planners, and practitioners highlighted key patterns: noise complaints are predominantly human and music-related, often amplified by urban geometry like the canyon effect, reflective facades and passageways, while disproportionately influence public acceptance relative to objective sound levels. Comparisons across cities revealed differences in tolerance, cultural perception and governance. However, commonalities confirmed the existence of systemic barriers and the absence of modular, aesthetically viable acoustic solutions suitable for temporary urban interventions. Following on from these findings, a theoretical prototype of a multilayered, modular sound-absorbing panel was developed. The design incorporates a porous outer layer, medium-frequency insulation, a lowfrequency HSA3 absorber, an air cavity for enhanced efficiency of the mass-spring-system, and mass-loaded vinyl to reflect sound back through the layers. The module has been designed to be lightweight, aesthetically pleasing and compatible with urban furniture or temporary structures. Theoretical calculations indicate that the layered system has the potential to achieve substantial reductions in perceived sound levels, with a cumulative effect that may exceed 10 dB. This could be sufficient to minimize perceived loudness significantly in critical urban contexts. The research makes a significant contribution to the fields of urban design and tactical urbanism by offering a novel perspective on noise, redefining it as an existential, social and governance-related issue rather than a purely technical one. Methodologically, it demonstrates the effectiveness of combining cross-city stakeholder interviews with literature analysis and design-led prototyping to identify structural barriers and generate implementable solutions. In practice, it presents a concept that has the potential to enhance user experience, enable flexible urban interventions, and provide municipalities and businesses with a scalable tool to manage noise conflicts. Finally, the study outlines pathways for future work, including real-world prototype testing, optimisation of manufacturing and materials, scaling strategies, and exploration of additional use cases such as traffic-exposed streets, public transport environments, or integrated furniture solutions. Overall, this thesis establishes noise as a critical factor in urban intervention design, offering both conceptual frameworks and concrete solutions for advancing tactical urbanism in dense European cities.