Ecology of Sound: The Sonic Order of Urban Space

Rowland Atkinson
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Rowland Atkinson: Housing and Community Research Unit, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 17, Hobart, Tasmania, TAS 7001, Australia, Rowland.Atkinson@utas.edu.au

Urban Studies, 2007, vol. 44, issue 10, 1905-1917

Abstract: Sound provides an often-ignored element of our conceptualisation of the urban fabric. The power of music, sound and noise to denote place and demarcate space is used here to develop the idea of a sonic ecology. The paper attempts to map the relative order of this unseen city and to theorise its spatial and temporal patterning. The sonic ecology, a relatively persistent and chronologically ordered quality to sound in urban space, is used as a means of examining the distribution of sound and to weigh the broader social impact of these qualities. The ambient soundscape of the street is made up of a shifting aural terrain, a resonant metropolitan fabric, which may exclude or subtly guide us in our experience of the city, thus highlighting an invisible yet highly affecting and socially relevant area of urban enquiry.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:10:p:1905-1917

DOI: 10.1080/00420980701471901

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