1. IENE 2014
Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure.
September 16 – 19, Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes Dpto. Biología Animal, Parasitología, Ecología, Edafología y Química Agrícola
Universidad
de Salamanca
“Wherever a man puts his foot,
always steps on one hundred paths”
Ortega y Gasset (Spanish philosopher)
Víctor Javier Colino Rabanal
Facultad de Farmacia. Campus Miguel de Unamuno. C.P: Salamanca. España.
Tfno: Fax:

2. Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Soundscape ecology is the study of sound within a landscape and its effect on organisms.
Sounds may be generated by:
Organisms (biophony) Physical environ. (geophony) Humans (anthrophony)

3. Reijnen y Foppen An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Reijnen y Foppen

4. 365 m 365 m 200 m 305 m 305 m < 10000 vehicles/day
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
365 m
365 m
200 m
305 m
305 m
< vehicles/day
> vehicles/day

5. AREA INHABITANTS DENSITY OF POPULATION
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
AREA
94, 223 Km2
INHABITANTS
2,510,890
DENSITY OF POPULATION
2.65 Inhabitants/Km 2
Area of study

6. Road soundscapes // road effect zone
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Road soundscapes // road effect zone
CYPRUS
9,252 Km2
8,029 Km2
THE NETHERLANDS (1986)  25-30%
UNITED STATES (2000)  18% ( 22% without Alaska)
CASTILE AND LEON  8.5%

7. Landscape associations within the area of study
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Landscape associations within the area of study
≈ 35% area
≈ 65% area
5 landscape associations
8 landscape associations

8. 40 Km/100Km 2 28 Km/100Km 2 Road density in the central plateau
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Northern mountains
Iberian interior mountains
Atlantic and sub-Atlantic mountains
Mediterranean and continental mountains
Basins and depressions
Peneplain and foothills
Countryside
Meadows and banks
Interior plains
Valleys
Moors and small plateaus
Iberian moorlands
Canyons and gorges
Road density in each landscape association
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
Road density in the central plateau
(Countryside, Meadows and banks, Interior plains, Moors and small plateau, Iberian moorlands)
40 Km/100Km 2
Road density in the montainous peryphery
(Mountains, basin and depresions, foothills, valleys, canyons and gorges)
28 Km/100Km 2

9. Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Main roads
Relation between main roads and landscape associations (% Main roads in that landscape association relation to the total/% area of that landscape in relation to the total
Northern mountain
Interior plains
Iberian interior mountain
Meadows and banks
Atlantic and sub-Atlantic mountains
Valleys
Mediterranean and continental mountains
Moors and small plateaus
Basins and depressions
Iberian moorlands
Peneplain and foothills
Canyons and gorges
Countryside

10. Percentage of road soundscapes within each landscape association
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Percentage of road soundscapes within each landscape association
< 5%
5% - 7.5%
7.5 – 10%
10 – 12.5%
> 12.5%

11. Christaller’s Central Place Theory
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Christaller’s Central Place Theory
The geographer Christaller created the central place theory (CPT) in 1933.
This theory attempts to explain the urban network organization, distribution and hierarchy in an unbounded isotropic and homogeneous surface. Each human settlement acts as a central place which provides services in the area under its influence. The model proposes a hierarchical arrangement of settlements conceptualized with hexagons.
The result is a kind of fractal structure where the largest hexagons, which correspond with the most important cities, contain other hexagons of smaller sizes representing the influence areas of less relevant settlements.

12. Roads Cities An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
In this fractal structure, the “regional metropolis” is communicated with the secondary cities by highways and national roads. Secondary cities with villages by local roads. The areas of influence, with different radius in relation to the importance of the city, superimpose.
It is possible to identify those zones with less anthropogenic influence, those with low road density areas. Following the geometrical design, these roadless areas also have fractal structure, with the biggest roadless areas going across the border of the regional metropolis area of influence (small anthropogenic presence), medium size roadless areas go across the border of the area of influence of the smaller cities. At smaller scale, roadless areas at local space.
Roads
Cities

13. Roads Cities An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
In this fractal structure, the “regional metropolis” is communicated with the secondary cities by highways and national roads. Secondary cities with villages by local roads. The areas of influence, with different radius in relation to the importance of the city, superimpose.
It is possible to identify those zones with less anthropogenic influence, those with low road density areas. Following the geometrical design, these roadless areas also have fractal structure, with the biggest roadless areas going across the border of the regional metropolis area of influence (small anthropogenic presence), medium size roadless areas go across the border of the area of influence of the smaller cities. At smaller scale, roadless areas at local space.
Roads
Cities

14. An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes

15. National capital An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
National capital

16. National capital An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
National capital

17. Conclusions Road soundscapes and their distribution within landscapes
Universidad
DE SALAMANCA
IENE Life for a Greener Transport Infrastructure. September 16 – 19. Malmö, Sweden
An approach to road networks and soundscapes
Conclusions
Road soundscapes and their distribution within landscapes
Road are not distributed at random but follows certain spatial patterns. They tend to concentrate, mainly the main roads, in landcapes where road construction is cheaper because of structural reason (riverbank and meadows, lowlands, etc). Those areas are also essential for wildlife connectivity and they are impacted by road disturbance and noise.
Christaller’s Central Places Theory
We are aware of Christaller´s model cannot be found in the real world because of its initial assumptions. Obviously, the environment is not isotropic and homogeneous, at least at large scale. More, it is more applicable to road networks with radial patterns.
Nevertheless, CPT can be a good approach to understand the spatial relationship between anthropogenic pressures, roadless areas at different scales, and biodiversity. It is always possible to find hierarchical dependences and radial pattern at certain spatial scale.

18. Tack !