Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SONCITIES (Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-03-01 do 2023-08-31
The project Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES) is formed at the intersection of sound, urbanism, and critical spatial practices. Its aim is to better understand cities and urban life through a critical investigation of the sonic conditions of cities, and of people’s experiences of urban sound environments; to make critical and creative interventions into urban sound environments; and to support architects, designers, and spatial practitioners in embracing sonic modes of urban analysis and design.
We have undertaken ethnographic research with urban residents in London, exploring their experiences of belonging and exclusion in the sonic city. That research informs a co-authored monograph and a media-rich, interactive website. We have authored chapters for two additional book-length projects: an edited volume on sonic urbanism; and a monograph on acoustic cities. We developed several workshops aiming to develop sonic perspectives and methods in architecture and urban design, including ‘Scoring the City’ (Darmstadt, London, Yerevan); ‘Intramuros’ (Paris); and ‘A Building Made of Sound’ (Berlin). We have published papers and audio essays in several volumes; and our symposia and public events have brought together diverse practitioners and theorists in exploring issues of sound, cities, and social justice and engaging publics on these issues. They include: the symposium Soundscapes of Social Justice, co-convened with Professor Yvette Jackson (Harvard); a symposium and concert, ‘From the Museum to the City: Listening to Urban Architectures’, at the national architecture history museum in Paris, co-hosted with Eric de Visscher; the event 'Art of Noises' (Modern Art Oxford); and the conversation series 'Countersonics: Radical Sonic Imaginaries' (launched at The Showroom in London).
We have given invited talks, including invited keynotes lectures, and participated in panels, radio interviews, and invited performances, including: keynote talks for the conferences ‘Sound, Art, and Urban Spaces’ at University of the Arts London; ‘more than sound’ symposium at RMIT, Australia; and ‘Acts of listening and Urban Geography’, Marseille; performance and panel talk at the book launch for Crafting a Sonic Urbanism; conference presentations at College Art Association and Urban Sound Symposium; invited talks at Pratt Institute; Harvard University; City University London; Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London; Central Saint Martins MA Cities programme; among others; participation in research meetings with fellow researchers studying sound and urbanism, including WAVEMATTERS (Humboldt University); and Sonic Tehran (City University London); and radio interviews for Spatial Radio (Central Saint Martins, London); ‘The Rest is Noise’ podcast; and the European Commission’s podcast.
We have given invited talks, including invited keynotes lectures, and participated in panels, radio interviews, and invited performances, including: keynote talks for the conferences ‘Sound, Art, and Urban Spaces’ at University of the Arts London; ‘more than sound’ symposium at RMIT, Australia; and ‘Acts of listening and Urban Geography’, Marseille; performance and panel talk at the book launch for Crafting a Sonic Urbanism; conference presentations at College Art Association and Urban Sound Symposium; invited talks at Pratt Institute; Harvard University; City University London; Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London; Central Saint Martins MA Cities programme; among others; participation in research meetings with fellow researchers studying sound and urbanism, including WAVEMATTERS (Humboldt University); and Sonic Tehran (City University London); and radio interviews for Spatial Radio (Central Saint Martins, London); ‘The Rest is Noise’ podcast; and the European Commission’s podcast.
We are investigating the social and cultural dimensions of urban soundscapes, moving beyond approaches to soundscape design that fail to register these dimensions. Through our ethnographic research in London, which explores people’s lived experiences of urban sound environments, we are showing how social and cultural locations mediate sonic experience and how sound gets entangled in the politics of belonging. This research is reflected in a co-authored monograph and interactive, media-rich website, among other publications including journal articles and audio essays. We are bringing an appreciation of sound’s creative capacities to the built environment professions and developing new sonic modes of urban analysis through forthcoming publications in leading journals of architecture and urban design, including Architectural Review and Landscape Architecture; and our events and workshops with architects and urbanists, including ‘Scoring the City’, ‘A Building Made of Sound’, ‘Intramuros’, and ‘Art of Noises’. Through our Design Weeks, which will come at a later stage in the project, we will seek to develop new sonic methods of urban design and expand design paradigms in the built environment professions by embedding sonic principles into architectural and urban design.