Investigating the Relationship between Soundscape and Collective Memory: The Application of Theories of Urban Space to Soundscape Analysis (original) (raw)
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The aim of the present work is to understand how the use of the notion of soundscapes can help in conceiving ambient sound environments in cities. From an overview of recent studies concerned with assessments of sound phenomena in everyday-life situations, the relevance of the soundscape concept is discussed as structuring the categorical space of sounds in cities. Urban planners have been interviewed concerning the soundscape concept in relation to urban projects. This allows comparisons between acousticians', city-users' and planners' categorizations of urban soundscapes, and suggests that a simple decrease of noise level or the elimination of noises is insufficient to account for urban environment improvement.
Perceived Soundscape of Urban Historical Places: A Case Study of Hamamönü, Ankara
This study investigates the integrity between the visual landscape and the acoustic landscape characteristics of an urban historic district of Ankara, namely Hamamönü that has recently faced an urban renewal process. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys, field observations and sound level measurements. Findings show that despite the visual character of the buildings has been preserved and restored according to the original, the uses, users, and consequently the character of the area has changed. It is needed to develop a holistic approach where integrity between different landscape elements and functions should be the focus in order to maintain historical values in urban environments.
Resonance – soundscapes of material and immaterial qualities of urban spaces
Cities & health, 2019
In European countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, the compact city is regarded as a sustainable city model. Because of high density and intensity, the quality of the urban environment is essential for its success. As dense cities may also be experienced as 'dense' and 'intense' in terms of activity and sound, the acoustic environment of public urban spaces are currently attracting attention from such perspectives, including wider notions of 'quiet' and 'resonance'. To study these phenomena, a case study was set up in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and four typologies of urban public space were defined in each city. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and supported by transcribed soundtracks, respondents' statements provided insight into their experience of the acoustic environment of these spaces, i.e. the soundscapes. Results indicate that the urban environment has the potential for offering environmental and existential resonance, and points to relations between sound quality and built density. This is of importance for both urban planning and the public health agenda. Based on these initial findings it is suggested that soundscape information may offer inspiration for rethinking compact city characteristics such as density and intensity, potentially stimulating cultural uniqueness and diversity and inspire 'new typology thinking'.
Understanding urban and natural soundscapes
The concept of soundscape has garnered increasing research attention over the last decade for studying and designing the sonic environment of public spaces. It is therefore critical to advance knowledge on how the soundscape of a place is evoked by its sonic environment, given visual, cultural, and situational contexts. Working Group 1 of the COST action "Soundscapes of European cities and landscapes" revolves around this question. In our current understanding the sounds that are heard during normal activities in a place trigger meaning and emotions based on the matching with expectations of the people using and acting in that place. This complete package of human experience in relation to the sonic environment can be named the soundscape. In terms of design, this understanding opens several opportunities. The designer can decide which sounds should be heard and try to make this happen by guiding the attention to particular sounds or simply remove, add or shape sounds. In doing so, he or she should keep in mind expectations of the local users. Expectations and meaning might be changed by suitable design of non-sonic features of the environment including besides the obvious visual context also the openness, lighting, local climate, etc. Bringing these concepts to practice requires new tools and methodologies.
Noise Mapping, 2021
The city of Granada is experimenting a big urban transformation, attending national and international commitments on clean air, energy efficiency and savings linked to greenhouse gases reduction strategies and sustainable development action plans. This situation constitutes a good scenario for new noise control approaches that take into account the sound variable and citizens empowering in urban design, such as the soundscape assessment of urban territory. In this way, soundscape tools have been used in Granada as a complementary method for environmental noise characterisation where traditional noise control techniques are difficult to be carried out or give limited results. After 2016 strategic noise map and in the preparation of the new noise action plan, the city came across a great acoustic challenge in a new area located outskirts characterised by growing urbanisation, still under development, the greatest legal protection because of sensitive teaching and hospital buildings and the greatest noise exposure from nearby ringway supporting heavy traffic flow. As quiet urban areas are not characterised by the absence of noise but for the presence of the right noise, this research intended to provide the local administration with results and proposals to transform this conflict area in a pleasant or quiet urban place. Main results came from important and significative differences in morning and evening characterisation, as great differences appear in soundscape assessment over the day and along the soundwalk path, indicating the importance of time and local issues to adequately characterised citizens perception to be considered by administration in the development of strategies and effective noise control actions.
Urban planning, 2023
This article focuses on the placemaking process and experimental research on the citizens' assessment of the soundscape in Puerta del Sol in Madrid. Numerous studies conducted in recent decades have shown that sound is a crucial element capable of providing new insights into the relationship between human beings and the environment. Sound possesses physical-sensory-perceptual qualities which connect the emotional and the rational aspects of the experience of the place, overcoming the aesthetic/scientific duality. By default, the soundscape is the result of a collective production. It is the resonant expression of the multiple activities and uses that inhabit a space. The soundscape of everyday life provides a vision of life in a particular place, giving meaning and a singular character to the fact of living there. The concept and methods of the soundscape arise from sensitive experiences of the place in direct relation to a community. This exploratory research focused on in situ methods (soundwalks, improvised interview mappings, sound archives, performances, and collective sound actions) as expressions of collective listening to place. This article also focuses on how to map and share the result of this research, the technology to build a collective digital place as a place of confluence of experiences, citizen knowledge, and reflection on the situated soundscape.
The application of the soundscape approach in the evaluation of the urban public spaces
Journal of The Acoustical Society of America, 2008
An important issue in the development of European cities is the design and renovation of the urban public areas. Typically, a broad variety of approaches (sociological, ecological, environmental, physical, etc.) is needed and earlier studies have shown the necessity of the transversal multi-disciplinary approach in this issue. In order to study the acoustical dimension, the concept of soundscape needs to be proposed and elaborated. The soundscape approach differs from the classical statistical noise analysis in the evaluation of a context-related noise and in the extrapolation of environmental sounds in its complexity. Nowadays, even by using recently developed sophisticated acoustical and psycho-acoustical measurable and quantifiable parameters, it still remains difficult to grasp the complete meaning of a soundscape in words only or by numbers only. Our hypothesis is that the description of the city soundscape might be successfully done by combination of acoustical numbers and words.
The Soundscape of Istanbul : Exploring the Public Awareness of Urban Sounds
The Soundscape of Istanbul project aims to explore urban sounds of Istanbul since they form a significant part of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and to protect them by creating an archive for sounds of Istanbul's urban culture. We conducted primary source research followed by an online survey and interviews in order to specify culturally significant urban sounds and to define the archive content. Besides gathering data for archive content, we obtained a pattern demonstrating the level of awareness of urban and cultural sounds of Istanbul from the viewpoint of residents and foreigners. This paper discusses the pattern drawn from the results of the online survey that shows which sounds are primarily recognized and which ones less so, and put forward possible reasons for this outcome. This paper is intended to lay the groundwork for further research on which culturally significant urban sounds need more attention and how to increase awareness of the most important sounds for a sustainable urban culture.
ASTUCE Research Project: one way to evaluate urban soundscapes
2010
ASTUCE, “Ambiances Sonores, Transports Urbains, Coeur de ville et Environnement” (Sound Ambiences, Urban Transport, City centre and Environment), is a research project aiming to provide a relevant methodology to improve the environmental quality of city centres by considering the concept of soundscape. The project gathers researchers from two laboratories belonging to two higher national schools of Architecture (GRECAU-Bx and CRESSON) and a National Transport Research Institute. The way the researchers want to approach this topic is by integrating the sensitive character of urban sound ambiences and the city dwellers sound experience. The goal of the project is to develop a global approach that helps local authorities, decisions makers, urban planners and town designers in the decision making process. By collecting information about the urban sound environment, identifying those that satisfy the city dwellers’ expectations and those that have to disappear or be modified, short- and ...