The first phase aims at experimenting sonic-oriented methodologies to advance urban analysis within areas undergoing dramatic transformation, taking Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles as a case study.
Central for this study is the use of in-person audio recordings, what I refer to as ‘field recordings’. It is a practice devoted to record sounds from the (urban) environment through microphones, playing back and re-edit them, and eventually analyze them (alone or in groups).
Using field recordings as the main research method, I am interested in advancing the practice of listening and recording to the sonic environment as an analytical tool to: produce knowledge within urban studies, inform urban planning and urban policy analysis and design, and finally encourage collective processes of social inclusion.
Central for this study is the use of in-person audio recordings, what I refer to as ‘field recordings’. It is a practice devoted to record sounds from the (urban) environment through microphones, playing back and re-edit them, and eventually analyze them (alone or in groups).
Using field recordings as the main research method, I am interested in advancing the practice of listening and recording to the sonic environment as an analytical tool to: produce knowledge within urban studies, inform urban planning and urban policy analysis and design, and finally encourage collective processes of social inclusion.
︎︎︎ outputs
Di Croce, N., Guastavino, C. ‘Field recording of urban sonic environments: A framework for qualitative analysis’ (currently under review)While researchers have implemented different methods to investigate the many dimensions (e.g. social, cultural) of the urban sonic environment, only a handful of studies have addressed the qualitative analysis of field recordings. To address this lack of guidance, the article introduces a systematic framework for the analysis of urban field recordings within social sciences. The framework derives from three bodies of literature: (i) Soundscape research, (ii) Music, Sound art, Media studies, and (iii) Urban studies.
Tested in the context of Montreal’s case study, this framework has demonstrated how field recordings can be successfully analyzed to inform an urban-oriented sonic inquiry.
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 881822
photo credits Andrea Bordoli