Geneva in 2061
In 2061, Geneva sounds beautiful. With the traffic noise gone, you hear the sounds people love: water flowing in fountains and streams, birds singing in the trees, the wind in the leaves, the bells of Saint-Pierre, children playing in the courtyards, conversations on café terraces, and street musicians whose music echoes between the old buildings. The right sound is in the right place: lively squares for music and play, and quiet corners close by for rest.
Cockatoos and various other parrots played a background symphony that, combined with the wonderful eucalyptus scent of the gum trees, made the Australian experience unique to the visiting Grooters.Grooters, Book 1, Part 9 “Sydney”
Geneva today
Geneva’s noise strategy aims for “the right sound in the right place”
With its soundscape approach, the canton asks the people who use a place to describe how they actually hear it, through an inventory and satisfaction questionnaire. Noisy areas linked to daily life are to be balanced by spaces of calm, and the approach still has to be tested in practice.
Source: State of Geneva, Bruit 2030 strategy and soundscape pages (2025)
- According to the studies cited by the canton, soundscapes rich in natural sounds, such as birdsong, running water and rustling leaves, increase people’s sense of well-being (same source).
- In 2010, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that residential zones are also meant for children, and that the noise of a crèche must in principle be tolerated there (Social Europe, 2026).
Where it is already done
- Paley Park in New York opened in 1967 as one of the first “pocket parks”: a small square between buildings, where a six-metre wall of rushing water screens out the street noise, and ivy-covered walls absorb sound and shelter small birds. Office workers and visitors still come there for a brief retreat from the noise of the city.
- Germany amended its federal law in 2011 so that the noise of children at daycare centres and playgrounds is, as a rule, not considered harmful to the environment, because the sounds children make are an expression of their development. Tokyo changed its own noise ordinance in the same spirit in 2015.
A Pattern Language
Related patterns from the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander and colleagues (1977), a classic of architecture and town planning.
- 63 Dancing in the Street: Alexander and his colleagues argue that public squares need places for music and dancing, such as a raised platform for musicians, so that people can gather around them.
- 64 Pools and Streams: They argue that people need contact with water in the city: fountains, pools and streams that can be seen, heard and touched, as part of everyday public space.
How far along
Done somewhere A city or country already does it. Geneva only needs to adapt it.
The path to 2061
Milestones proposed for discussion.
- 2027Geneva carries out soundscape surveys in every neighbourhood, asking residents which sounds they love and which disturb them.
- 2031Every new park and square is designed with sound in mind, with running water, trees for birds, and places for street musicians.
- 2041Natural sounds can be heard in every neighbourhood; squares have spaces for music and play, with quiet corners nearby.
- 2051Geneva is known for its soundscapes as much as for its views.
- 2061Verity hears street musicians, church bells and swans instead of traffic.
What moves it
Human needs it serves
Open questions
- How can children’s play and concentration coexist, with lively places for play close to quiet places for work?
- How can street musicians be welcomed without residents hearing the same song under their windows all day?
- Could scents be designed into public spaces as carefully as sounds?
Sources
- State of Geneva: Paysages sonores, un outil pionnier (2025, in French)
- State of Geneva: Bruit 2030, une stratégie cantonale innovante (2025, in French)
- Society of Architectural Historians, SAH Archipedia: Samuel Paley Plaza
- Social Europe: The Sound of Children Playing Is Not Industrial Noise (September 2026)