Collaborative frameworks for integrating sound within urban design and planning processes

Project Information

Sound-Frameworks

Grant agreement ID: 101032632

DOI

10.3030/101032632

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2021

Start date 1 November 2021

End date 21 November 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 224 933,76

EU contribution

€ 224 933,76

Coordinated by

THEATRUM MUNDI
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Sound-Frameworks (Collaborative frameworks for integrating sound within urban design and planning processes)

Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2023-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Sound-Frameworks explores the role of sound within urban design and spatial planning practices to advance new methodologies for working with sound in the context of the public realm. Efforts to understand the role of sound and listening in the public realm require increased support in policy and legislation. Sound is linked to the spatial, functional, social and psychological dimensions of the public realm, and must be addressed within urban design and planning initiatives to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including primarily SDGs 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) alongside SDGs 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 5 (Gender Equality), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 13 (Climate Action), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

Sound-Frameworks advances the role of sound in urban design and planning practice through three objectives: (1) To develop a sound-in-practice survey to reflect insight concerning working with sound in the public realm from practitioners involved in city-making processes; (2) To distil a series of guidelines from this survey; and (3) To develop a design tool that integrates sound-related objectives in public realm projects in the context of architecture, urban design and spatial planning.

Key findings:

1. Efforts to include considerations of sound in the design and planning of the public realm remain under-resourced, despite the crucial role that sound and listening play in determining the sustainability of public spaces within progressively densifying urban territories inhabited by increasingly diverse populations.

2. Urban design and spatial planning practitioners recognise limitations in quantitative approaches to working with sound via methods that prioritise noise mitigation and are eager to audition methods to address sound on a subjective basis in response to different projects, sites and publics.

3. The obstacle to implementing new methods for working with sound in the public realm is that although it is possible to identify sound-related objectives, such objectives are often value-engineered out of projects due to a misperception that they are optional targets as opposed to key requirements.

4. To advance new methodologies for working with sound in the public realm, it is necessary to identify the value they add to larger design processes.

5. Instead of addressing sound as a standalone parameter, linking sound with other dimensions of the public realm (such as sustainability, equity and mobility) allows practitioners to identify the value of working with sound in the context of their own skills and objectives.

6. There are multiple approaches to working with sound and to defining what constitutes the public realm. Therefore there is not one singular approach to working with sound in the design of the public realm, but a plurality of approaches that can be led by architects, acousticians, artists, developers, community groups and many others.

7. It is necessary to support this plurality of approaches to working with sound in the public realm to extend standards in this domain, such as the ISO Soundscape Standard (ISO 12913-1:2014, ISO/TS 12913-2:2018, ISO/TS 12913-3:2019 and ISO/AWI TS 12913-4).

8. Sound-related objectives can be introduced at any stage of the urban design process, including strategic definition, preparation and briefing, concept design, spatial coordination, technical design, manufacturing and construction, handover and use.

9. Practice focused on sound in the public realm remains influenced by sound art, sound studies and alternative spatial practices, as this domain is yet to be fully adopted in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and spatial planning.

10. It is necessary to address sound within architectural and urban design education to encourage this form of practice.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Sound-Frameworks was developed by Sven Anderson with a supervisory team led by John Bingham-Hall. The project was informed by contemporary artistic practice and sound studies as well as architecture, spatial planning, environmental acoustics and noise control engineering, and took place between 2021 and 2023 based at Theatrum Mundi in London. Founded by Richard Sennett, Theatrum Mundi is a centre for experimentation in the public culture of cities that expands the crafts of city-making through the arts. Sound-Frameworks included partnerships with Arup, UrbanIdentity, Struer Kommune, the University of Oxford Faculty of Music and the Sound Studies Lab at the University of Copenhagen.

The project's objectives were addressed through six work packages: Project Management; Surveying Sound in Practice; Developing Best Practice Guidelines; Prototyping an Open Design Framework; Communication and Dissemination; and Training and Transfer of Knowledge.

The Sound-Frameworks survey integrated perspectives from sound artists, researchers and students alongside employees from Arup, Struer Kommune, UrbanIdentity, Theatrum Mundi, Publica, Platform 78, NIRAS, The Quality of Life Foundation, JML Water Features, Heneghan Peng Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, Harman, Bang & Olufsen, The Bartlett and others. These exchanges were distilled in a database of best practice guidelines that supported the development of the Sound-Frameworks design tool.

The Sound-Frameworks design tool reveals project-specific links between ‘Core Indicators’ and ‘Custom Indicators’ to communicate about the value of sound in the public realm. Users work with preset core indicators (Value, Narrative, Legibility and Integration) and custom indicators including: Accessibility, Acoustics, Activism, Ambiance, Architecture, Atmosphere, Biodiversity, Building Codes, Climate Change, Commercial Space, Community, Conflict, Crisis, Culture, Density, Ecology, Education, Environmental Acoustics, Equity, Events, Exclusion, Gentrification, Heritage, ICTs, Inclusion, Industrial Space, Landscape, Lighting, Masterplanning, Mobility, Morphology, Music, Nature, Night-Time Use, Noise, Noise Complaints, Noise Regulations, Non-Human Life, Pedestrian Space, Personal Space, Physical Plant, Public Art, Residential Space, Resilience, Redevelopment, Safety, Shelter, Silence, Soundscape, Sports, Sprawl, Suburbs, Sustainability, Tranquillity, Transportation, Vibrance, Waste Management, Water Features, Weather, Zoning. The tool creates reports that reveal how sound can be integrated within different dimensions of urban design, planning and development.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Sound-Frameworks advanced the state of the art through action-led research. Drawing from the insight of participating urban designers, architects, acousticians, artists, curators, public authority employees and others, the project fostered proactive discourse in this emergent field of design. The Sound-Frameworks survey, best practice database and design tool are the foundation of a design platform that will continue to evolve.

Sound-Frameworks’ impact stems from an emphasis on diversifying perspectives related to the integration of sound within the context of urban design and spatial planning. The project represents an inclusive platform that promotes agency in developing sound-related objectives for the public realm. Rooted in design practice, it is poised to inform proactive stances in relevant policy, legislation and spatial planning objectives.

Artist and researcher Sven Anderson capturing field recordings in the in public realm in London.

Artist and researcher Sven Anderson outside the London office of Sound-Frameworks partner Arup.

Artist and researcher Sven Anderson developing the Sound-Frameworks design tool with Theatrum Mundi.