Hush City
from 14/03/2017
Hush City is a free, citizen science app, which empowers people to identify and assess quiet areas in cities as to create an open-access, web-based map of quiet areas, with the potential of orientating plans and policies for healthier living, in response to issues framed by European environmental policies (e.g. EC END 49/2002).
Launched in 2017 within the context of a pilot study in Berlin, Hush City is now used internationally and available in 5 languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Hush City has been adopted by the Municipalities of Berlin (2018) and Limerick (2020-2022) for the creation of the Plans of Quiet Areas.
Using the Hush City app, you can:
- Crowdsource your favourite quiet areas and share them via the Hush City Map and your social media;
- Identify and access quiet areas mapped by the Hush City users in your city or in other cities worldwide;
- Filter the quiet areas according to their sound levels, perceptual descriptors, level of quietness, visual quality and accessibility, as perceived by the users who crowdsourced the quiet areas;
- Review your personal surveys and delete them anytime without justification;
- Become a Hush City Ambassador;
- Give feedback on the Hush City project.
Aim
Our cities are becoming noisier by the hour. Only in Europe, over 125 million people are affected by noise pollution from traffic every year (EEA 2020), and apparently, quietness is becoming a luxury available only to a few of us.
By using Hush City, you can generate open data about the locations and the qualities of the quiet areas, which can be leveraged by policy makers and planners for creating Plans of Quiet Areas in response to a legal requirement set up by the European Environmental Noise Directive (EC END 49/2002).
Further, Hush City can help you to identify, access, map and evaluate everyday quiet areas in your neighbourhoods. You can find places such as small, quiet spots where you can go to escape the city’s chaos, relax, read a book, play with your kids, and have a pleasant conversation.
Needed equipment
A smartphone or a computer with access to an internet connection
About funding
Funding bodies: Hush City was supported by the European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme under TU Berlin/IPODI Grant number 600209; the HEAD Genuit Foundation under Grant number P-17/08-W; the TU Berlin Career Development Grant.
About branding
Profile image design by: Antonella Radicchi 2019
Logo design by: Antonella Radicchi 2017
Created Nov. 19, 2021, 12:25 p.m.
Updated May 12, 2022, 1:35 p.m.
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