Background In many respects, the European Union can be seen as a Union of cities; about 1 600 settlements are home to over 50 000 inhabitants and are thus considered functional urban areas. According to the European Urban Audit published by the Directorate General for Regional Policy (European Commission) in June 2007, almost three quarters of European citizens live in urban areas. Urban dwellers are expected to represent 80% of the total population by 2020. Noise in large urban agglomerations is now seen as a factor that greatly impairs quality of life, similarly to air or water pollution. According to the European Commission's Green Paper on Future Noise Policy, more than 250 million people are exposed to outdoor noise levels above 55 dB. The European Environmental Noise Directive (END) 2002/49/EC was adopted to define a common approach to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects due to exposure to noise. To that end, the European Commission has requested Member States to produce noise maps for the main sources of noise pollution and describe the indicators to be used - namely Lden and Lnight. The major sources of noise pollution tend to be road traffic, railways, aeroplanes and factories. In later documents, countries are expected to suggest algorithms for modelling noise emissions from these sources and the methodologies for combating them. Objectives The project aims to harmonise national noise management standards with the European Environmental Noise Directive 49/2002 to obtain homogeneous Noise Action Plans. This in turn will contribute to the transposition, implementation and enforcement of common or harmonized environmental legislation in EU countries. Specific objectives of the project are to: 1. Analyse and compare available data platforms needed to address the requirements set out by noise pollution regulations; 2. Highlight unresolved conflicts between current standards at regional, national and European levels; 3. Identify possible solutions to noise in urban areas; 4. Define common methods for designing strategic and specific solutions to noise pollution; 5. Define the procedures and a database for a new development system for action planning; 6. Test this system and noise-pollution-reduction measures in a pilot project in Florence; 7. Design guidelines for devising and implementing an action plan in other urban areas.