- C30 -

Municipal and regional assessment of quiet areas in Sweden A new paper from Sweden presents a compelling overview of efforts made by regions and municipalities in that country to identifyareas that are relatively free of human noise. While these effortshave had only modestimpact on planning and regulation in a few cases quiet areas are being protected from noisy development or highlighted in recreational promotion. This sort of initiativedeserves to be more widely replicated. Any local planners or activists who would like to encourage quietarea expansion and protection will find a wealth of references here and will appreciate the case reports describing some of the criteria being used in various cities towns and counties.