The right fountain for the right place? An in-situ co-creative soundscaping methodology

Road traffic noise-polluted parks pervade the urban landscape, hindering the enjoyment of the relaxing potential and cognitive benefits that urban parks offer. Soundscape augmentation with natural sounds has demonstrated its merits in this context before, and deliberately introducing fountains can be an attractive solution since such installations can be easily controlled. This work describes a co-creative in-situ experiment where locals help select the most suited fountain at a predefined design spot during the planning phase, with a clear focus on sound. The simplified auralization approach, with loudspeakers positioned at the pond's bank, allowed participants to evaluate various fountain scenarios in an ecologically valid context. To arrive at the optimal choice, sound pleasantness and the road traffic noise masking potential of the (combination of) fountain(s) should be balanced.