Ecology of Sound

The Sonic Order of Urban Space

Bibliographic Data

ID5835232
AuthorsRowland Atkinson (0000-0001-9801-9380, Housing and Community Research Unit, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 17, Hobart, Tasmania, TAS 7001, Australia, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume44
Issue10
Pages1905-1917
Publication date2007-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0042-0980 • E-ISSN: 1360-063X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1080/00420980701471901
OpenAlexW2164480738
LanguageEN
Citations received89
References cited26

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

Soundscape · Urban ecology · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Noise Effects and Management · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis