Noise Pollution

[Yoichi]

So, are they gonna do anything about that? Like, Policy for Good Isolation, so Noise will affect less Buildings? Or any other solution to this? There are currently 0 availability to deal with this, even with mods (mod that FULLY disables this doesn't count).

[ThisHero]

unlikely. your best options to combat the rise in noise pollution complaints:
- place large trees in problematic areas
- city ordinances: require all cars sold be electric; & NIMBY
- use roads with trees in residential areas
- place offices between residential and HD commercial/noisy buildings

after sunset harbor i was dealing with several dozen of noise complaint i did not have before, so i spent a few hours reconfiguring my city with the aforementioned solutions and I am down to noise complaints in the single digits at any one time. i can live with that.

[pemmons1]

(1) While exploring the various menus and information sections of the game, I once saw a breakdown of causes of illness. Noise pollution is one of them. Now I can't remember where that info is found or how to see it again. Can someone help?

(2) It is clear that noise pollution is bad to have in residential areas. It is severe in industrial areas and significant also in commercial areas and thoroughfares. This is a major reason why it is important to separate residential zones from the others. I've tried placing trees in unused spaces within industrial zones without noticing any change. Is noise pollution anything to worry about as long as it is confined to industrial and commercial zones, with residential zones kept quiet? What about placing commercial zones next to industrial zones? Is this o.k.?

[WhiteKnight77]

In the upper left corner is the information panel. The headphones is the noise pollution panel icon. I often build residential areas right up to highways, but leave enough room to place trees, and I will also upgrade the highways to have noise barriersto help keep noise to an "acceptable" level.

[pemmons1]

Originally posted by WhiteKnight77:

In the upper left corner is the information panel. The headphones is the noise pollution panel icon

This shows where the noise pollution is, but I'm interested in the specifics of how many illnesses it is causing. It's in the game somewhere.

[xybolt]

Originally posted by pemmons1:

(2) It is clear that noise pollution is bad to have in residential areas. It is severe in industrial areas and significant also in commercial areas and thoroughfares. This is a major reason why it is important to separate residential zones from the others.

You have be aware that commercial and industry area's aren't the only source of noise. Various service related buildings do generate noise as well. Ensure that their noise radius (will be shown when placing one on the map) does not hit residency area. The traffic is also another origin of noise pollution. Please use the noise pollution heatmap (headphone icon of the info panel) to check noise pollution on the map and make adjustments if required.

Originally posted by pemmons1:

I've tried placing trees in unused spaces within industrial zones without noticing any change.

It does have an impact. I can confirm it from my setup. The question is, is it from a DLC or is it in vanilla. That is something I am unsure of it is vanilla or DLC content. However, it has to be noted that a single tree does not have a high impact. There has to be more trees on a small area, at a forest-like density. Not park-like.

Originally posted by pemmons1:

Is noise pollution anything to worry about as long as it is confined to industrial and commercial zones, with residential zones kept quiet?

Yes and no. It has also an influence on the land value. If there is a lot noise pollution, the land value will be lower than usual. This has an impact on the building level of the buildings. A higher level (for non-residental areas) leads to more workspace per cell and a higher tax income. For residental areas; it leads to having more household per cell.

Originally posted by pemmons1:

What about placing commercial zones next to industrial zones? Is this o.k.?

That can be done without problems. It also reduces the traffic a bit if you're curious about that as well.

[pemmons1]

Thanks, xybolt! I am using only the vanilla game, which says that trees reduce noise pollution, and I did put them in a cluster, although I could add many more among them. It could be a very good use for 4x4 squares that should not be zoned because they are broken up by misalignment of roads (an occasional annoyance try as I might). If less noise means greater property values, perhaps we can determine the effect of the trees over time, by seeing whether the adjacent industries level up earlier than the others in the district.

Perhaps I should pat myself on the back that even at population at 7000 in my initial tile, traffic flow is at least 93%. With the exception of a four-lane road running through the middle of the main industrial area, most of the roads in this area are still gravel. The benefit on noise pollution from upgrading them to paved roads lined by trees might be a good argument for doing so even if the traffic level does not demand it. What do you think?

[Mr. Monday]

Originally posted by pemmons1:

(2) It is clear that noise pollution is bad to have in residential areas. It is severe in industrial areas and significant also in commercial areas and thoroughfares. This is a major reason why it is important to separate residential zones from the others. I've tried placing trees in unused spaces within industrial zones without noticing any change. Is noise pollution anything to worry about as long as it is confined to industrial and commercial zones, with residential zones kept quiet? What about placing commercial zones next to industrial zones? Is this o.k.?

Only residential zones are affected by noise, so avoid placing those zones near noisy areas and mitigate noise when they're near those areas. You don't have to worry about the other zones being affected by noise at all, though noise mitigation in those zones isn't necessarily a bad idea. Trees will die when near polluted areas, so that's likely why you didn't see any change when you placed the trees.

[pemmons1]

Only residential zones are affected by noise, so avoid placing those zones near noisy areas and mitigate noise when they're near those areas. You don't have to worry about the other zones being affected by noise at all, though noise mitigation in those zones isn't necessarily a bad idea. Trees will die when near polluted areas, so that's likely why you didn't see any change when you placed the trees. [/quote]

I've been pretty careful about keeping residential areas away from sources of noise. But a few houses are moderately affected by a cluster of wind turbines. It would be good to put some trees behind these houses. Various kinds of trees are possible. The price is the same for all. Are the differences purely cosmetic, or are some better at reducing noise than others, or grow better in some circumstance than others? In this case, there is only noise pollution. Other pollution is nowhere near.

[Mr. Monday]

I'm not sure if one kind of tree is better at blocking noise than another. Only thing I can think of is that the price between the two might be different if one protects against noise better than the other.

[WhiteKnight77]

Here is a noise map[www.whiteknight77.net] of my most recent city that I started as well as an overall view[www.whiteknight77.net] of it. You can see where I placed trees and used noise barriers. Through trial and error, I learned that Cims will tolerate noise near the highway with such in place. If I had Cims near the leisure area, they would be sick due to the noise pollution. Next to the leisure area is an office area with IT specialization. Notice, no noise in it, though onthe outside due to low density commercial.

[Prometheus]

Light commercial makes a great buffer. It doesn't care about noise from worse sources and doesn't cause enough noise to bother residential.

[pemmons1]

Yes, I've always put commercial areas, roughly speaking, between industrial and residential. It's a good approach except that you never know how much of each kind of zone you will need. Industries can expand in one direction and residential in the opposite direction, but commercial-- ? So I begin with a gap between C and R which will hopefully be large enough. So far, it seldom has been.

[Prometheus]

Basically, you can use as much or as little commercial as you like. You need buffer, lay in the light commercial. The long explanation for why is below.


You don't need commercial. It actually functions as industry but at the end of the goods chain. There is no such thing as too little commercial but you can have too much, which is why it has a bar. That isn't to say commercial is pointless. If you are producing goods for it to use, by which I mean you have industrial zoning, it is more profitable per job than industry for you. In the base game with no DLC you ideally want to be exporting goods (purple) but only a little bit. So you balance industry and commercial based on that to maximize.

Residential and industrial are basically a see saw. As you build one the demand for the other rises. Though note that you can reduce industry demand by building anything that has jobs. A hospital employs people and thus reduces industry demand. Police, schools and more also do this. Also as a rule live in the land of low residential demand. Build industry solely for the purpose of opening up more residential, which you set asap. This reason for this is getting workers into jobs. When you get big and developed if you have high res demand you'll have trouble filling work places and get abandonment. Long explanation as to why that is and this is already long.

[xybolt]

Originally posted by pemmons1:

Perhaps I should pat myself on the back that even at population at 7000 in my initial tile

I am unable to fit 7000 people on the first tile because I start to build with more density once I start to unlock the third milestone. The reason for that is that I am lazy to delete and build over the initial tile, to correct up the tools available at the early phase.

note: I am aware that you can unlock everything at start, but these milestones gives me a feeling that my city is growing. Then I have access to the "better" stuff, which feels ... rewarding.

Originally posted by pemmons1:

With the exception of a four-lane road running through the middle of the main industrial area, most of the roads in this area are still gravel. The benefit on noise pollution from upgrading them to paved roads lined by trees might be a good argument for doing so even if the traffic level does not demand it. What do you think?

roads with grass or even with trees are higher in maintenance cost, but in return, they raise the land value. It is worth to note that roads with trees also helps a bit with local pollution, from trucks. Unless you have a district policy set to not allow heavy vehicles.

[MarkJohnson]

Only residential buildings are affected by noise pollution. So, just keep noisy building outside of residential.

If you need one close by or in the middle of residential, then build a buffer around it for the affected building. tree parks are great for this, or office or plain treed areas as well, tree lined or grass lined roads. Sometimes I just leave a bare grassy field.