Investigation of tranquility in urban religious places

Abstract

In the present study, tranquility in urban religious places including a cathedral and a Buddhist temple has been assessed by soundwalks. Both Myeong-dong Cathedral and Bongeun Temple located in the center of Seoul were selected as measurement sites. During the soundwalks, audio-visual recordings were conducted at selected positions. From the field measurements, the temporal and frequency characteristics of the sound environment in two religious places were explored. Participants evaluated their perceived soundscape using a soundwalk questionnaire along the soundwalk routes in the church and temple gardens in order to investigate the value of tranquility as urban stress relievers. From the results, indicators representing tranquility difference in particular soundscapes were examined.