Land-use planning is one of the most important ways of noise reduction, making it possible to place noise-causing activities further away from dwellings and other sensitive sites. In practice, however, the problem is that the tendency to compact cities increases the construction along traffic routes, for example.

There are three plan levels, the most general of which is the regional plan. The master plan broadly defines the land use in different areas of a city or municipality, and the detailed plan specifies the planning and details of a particular area. You can read more about land-use planning in the section Kaavoitus on suunnittelua ja yhteistyötä. Different ways to reduce noise through land-use planning are described below.

Photo: Noora Nilsén