ASTUCE, "Ambiances Sonores, Transports Urbains, Coeur de ville et Environnement" (Sound Ambiences, Urban Transport, City centre and Environment), is a research project aiming to provide a relevant methodology to improve the acoustical quality of city centres by considering the concept of soundscape. The project gathers researchers from two laboratories belonging to two higher national schools of Architecture (GRECAU-Bx and CRESSON) and a National Transport Research Institute. The way the researchers want to approach this topic is by integrating the sensitive character of urban sound ambiences and the city dwellers sound experience. The goal of the project is to develop a global approach that helps local authorities, decisions makers, urban planners and town designers in the decision making process. By collecting information about the urban sound environment, identifying those that satisfy the city dwellers' expectations and those that have to disappear or be modified, short- and long-term strategies will then be validated in complement of the noise action plans in line with the European Environmental Noise Directive. The first phase of the research project presented in the intermediary report was explaining how they brought together their own methodologies applied on two urban areas where several modes of transportation are available, among which the tramway. In the present report are giving some results of the different surveys. A later phase presented here concerns the elaboration of user instructions intended to the different actors listed above in order to consider the characteristics of the measured, real-lived and imagined soundscape. After which is proposed to work out a methodology that not only intends to avoid and abates noise pollution, but also to contribute to improve the environmental quality of the city centre. To assist urban design actors in this complex task the ASTUCE project aims to develop a guidebook which comprises recommendations on organisational settings, on the involvement of different societal stakeholders, including the public, and action planning process, in the future.
