Spatial Analysis of Social Infrastructure Facilities Exposed to High Traffic Noise in Urgench City Using GIS

Abstract

Traffic noise is one of the most significant environmental health hazards in rapidly growing cities, and its effects are most harmful in sensitive social institutions such as schools, preschools, healthcare facilities and universities. In Uzbekistan, the expansion of urban road networks has outpaced the spatial assessment of these institutions with respect to acoustic exposure. The aim of this study was to identify and spatially evaluate the social infrastructure facilities of Urgench, the administrative centre of the Khorezm Region, that are located within zones of elevated traffic noise. Official municipal statistics on public educational and healthcare institutions were combined with a geospatial model built at a scale of 1:25,000 from OpenStreetMap vector data. The urban road network was treated as the principal line source of noise, and ten concentric multi-ring buffer zones (500–5,000 m at 500 m intervals) were generated around the high-volume central traffic node. Facilities were digitised, classified by function and assigned to buffer zones through spatial overlay. The city operates 45 general education schools, 22 preschool organisations, 35 healthcare facilities and 4 higher education institutions. In total, 112 facilities were identified within the adverse acoustic domain; approximately 75% of them lie within the 500–1,500 m central core, where arterial corridors and major intersections concentrate traffic, whereas only about 10% are found in the peripheral 4,000–5,000 m zone. Although social infrastructure in Urgench is quantitatively adequate, its spatial arrangement exposes most institutions to chronic acoustic stress. The results provide a scientific basis for delineating acoustic discomfort zones and support targeted measures, including noise barriers, green buffer belts, traffic calming and mandatory setbacks for new facilities in the city master plan