Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud

Re:Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud by po on Friday May 19, 2023 @07:38AM (#36000503)

I just walked out onto my 3rd floor balcony in Tokyo at 8:30pm and my watch says it is 38dB. I can hear some light car traffic in the distance. I live about a 20 minute walk to Shibuya crossing, so not exactly rural. I also live about 100m from Yamatedori which is a giant arterial road.

I used to live in NYC. Tokyo is a very quiet city. Not all parts for sure... you can have an apartment by a train crossing or they might build a highway outside your 6th floor window, but I would say that most of the parts where people live is pretty quiet.

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Re:Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud by ATMLOTTOBEER on Friday May 19, 2023 @07:56AM (#36000698)

This was my experience as well visiting Tokyo as someone who lives in nyc

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Re:Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud by DrBazza on Friday May 19, 2023 @10:17AM (#36002285)

Are there trees and soft planting at street level? NYC is very plant bare by comparison to London for example. And they absorb a lot of the noise. Hard surfaces just reflect and amplify the noise.

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Re:Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud by po on Sunday May 21, 2023 @08:38PM (#36026090)

Yes. Tokyo has a lot of shrubs and small trees planted on any available median or unused sidewalk space throughout the city. I think that helps. There is also some small effort put in to plant ivy or other climbing plants on things like highway ramps.

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