Interactive soundscape simulation as a co-design tool for urban professionals

•Formative evaluation of a sound simulator as an urban planning support tool.•Immersive simulation responds to need for more holistic, experiential urban planning.•Participants co-designed different soundscapes for different simulated situations.•Different collaborative strategies to co-create sonically cohesive environments.•8 recommendations for a sound simulator, such as balancing flexibility and accuracy. Urban professionals are regularly confronted with the complexity of urban sound experiences and have long expressed interest in better sound design opportunities. But, in many urban environments, the common approach based on noise mitigation has proven insufficient to improve the quality of the auditory experience. However, urban professionals rarely have the resources and knowledge to deal with urban sound in a resource-centered manner and to make space for perceptual and contextual suitability for a diversity of experiences. To start bridging this gap, the present research explores the potential of a soundscape simulator prototype to help integrate sound into the urban design process. Through a formative evaluation with urban professionals during an interactive workshop, this study reveals avenues for the development of a simulation tool for urban professionals, including the need to balance flexibility and accuracy, to present changes in real time, and to seamlessly switch between different compositions to support design comparisons. Our findings also hint at a shift away from the visual-centeredness and a willingness amongst urban professionals to consider a more holistic urban sensory experience. We conclude with recommendations for a sound simulation tool for urban planning.