In December 2020, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) commissioned LUC to develop a new nationally consistent terrestrial Tranquillity & Place – Dark Skies map that identifies the strategic and local resource in remote, rural, peri-urban and urban areas for use as an evidence base to inform policy intent, practice and provision for wellbeing benefits.

Tranquillity is associated with the degree to which places and ecosystems deliver a state of quiet, calm, peace and well-being. This can be described as a relative abundance, perception or experience of nature, natural landscapes and features (e.g. birdsong, natural sounds, moving water, stars and perceived wildness) and/or a relative freedom from unwanted visual disturbance, signs of human influence and artificial noise (e.g. from people, transport, development, light pollution, power lines).

Tranquillity, as a landscape asset and important cultural service, is highly valued and contributes to landscape value and identity. Tranquillity also contributes to health, well-being, spiritual benefit and quality of life. This in turn can bring economic benefits from tourists and visitors to tranquil areas. Tranquillity has limited resilience in that subtle changes in noise, visual intrusion and light pollution may have marked effects on natural settings and tranquillity.

Light pollution can impact our perception or experience of nature, landscapes and greenspaces and the cultural benefits they provide to us. Tranquillity as a natural resource is most often experienced in the rural landscape. With continued expansion of the urban population, the importance of finding tranquil places in urban parks and open spaces is growing. This can be possible where positive soundscapes outweigh sounds like traffic, where peace and quiet coincides with visual beauty/aesthetics and where there is a sense of nature, personal safety and freedom of access. Light pollution can negatively impact upon the experience of tranquillity. Areas of urban tranquillity provide an important contrast and break from the built environment with benefits to quality of life.

Future work will consider the degree to which places, greenspaces and ecosystems deliver relative tranquillity and opportunities for state of quiet, calm, peace and well-being including relative soundscapes. This report focuses on the degree to which places and ecosystems deliver relatively dark skies. Ultimately the collective work strands will be used to build up a new Tranquillity Map for Wales.