Achieving the best quality of life in urban areas is an increasingly discussed topic among academics, urban planners and policymakers. The exploration of complex interactions between human activities and biophysical processes is considered challenging and due to the lack of understanding in this field, in the past years there have been numerous investments and land use decisions with a negative long-term impact (Alberti and Waddell, 2000). Therefore, the development of urban areas requires an interdisciplinary approach with contributions from many fields of research. However, the knowledge provided by environmental sciences is fragmentary as particular components of urban ecosystems are isolated (Brand and Thomas, 2005). A sectoral and disciplinary approach for changing urban policies and practices towards sustainability is insufficient so there is a need to integrate many areas of research into holistic, comprehensive systems encompassing all aspects of urban development (McCormick et al., 2013). In order to solve this problem, environmental issues are underlined in new approaches in urban planning, e.g. urban environmentalism (Brand and Thomas, 2005), the integration of environmental and urban planning or integrated planning (Runhaar et al., 2009; Yigitcanlar and Teriman, 2015), and in many planning and environmental evaluation procedures such as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (He et al., 2011; Lamorgese and Geneletti, 2013; Rojas et al., 2013). However, environmental quality evaluation is difficult to implement in the process of urban planning given the often non-spatial character of obtained results. It is also important to note that the practice of planning supported by scientific methods should remain a flexible process in which social consensus is combined with achieving environmental ambitions and standards (Runhaar et al., 2009). A relaxed approach may be an alternative to fixed environmental quality regulations in the process of participatory planning which requires taking into account the local community context (Glasbergen, 2005). Malodours are an environmental and planning problem but also an important factor in the perception of built environment underlined in the concept of smellscape which refers to the olfactory landscape of the city (Porteous, 1985). Combined with other sensory information, the perception of smell considerably impacts the experience of urban life and should be incorporated into the practice of urban design (Henshaw, 2014). Odour nuisance is a problem in urban areas, for instance in the case of re-development of post-industrial sites or encroachment of housing on industrial areas and sources of odour emission such as landfills or wastewater treatment plants (Lewkowska et al., 2016). Odours are also recognised as a social issue and a source of many complaints regarding air quality (Aatamila et al., 2011; Bokowa, 2010; De Feo et al., 2013; Lewkowska et al., 2015). In order to manage its impact on the urban environment, it is necessary to be able to evaluate emission of malodours reliably and to determine its range and long-term effects. Despite advances in evaluation techniques (Brattoli et al., 2011; Sironi et al., 2010) and research into the strategies for the reduction of odour dispersion (Estrada et al., 2012; Tyndall and Colletti, 2007), it often remains an unsolved issue.