The November newsletter features four of the twenty-first Hush City Soundwalks, guided by Antonella in September to celebrate the Sound Walk Sunday 2019 and crowdsource quiet areas by using Hush City app.

In doing so, we would like to acknowledge the outstanding commitment of the local partners, who helped organize the soundwalks in Berlin, Milan, Florence and Barcelona. We would like to thank the participants in the Hush City Soundwalks for their enthusiasm and the fabulous comments.

Happy reading!

On September, 18th Antonella guided a Hush City Soundwalk in the area of Pankstrasse, in Mitte, Berlin, Germany. This soundwalk was organized in collaboration with Emanuele Porcinai, a Berlin-based sound artist, and a group of different artists.
This soundwalk was guided along the same route, and in the same area as last year. In 2018 Antonella guided a soundwalk in collaboration with the Berlin Senate for the preparation of the Berlin Plan of Quiet Areas (Noise Action Plan 2018-2023).
The participants appreciated the overall experience and a soundwalker particularly appreciated “the ear cleaning exercises which were done at the beginning, [which] were a useful discovery which I will further investigate for the future. […]”.
Curious to explore the quiet areas crowdsourced in the Pankstrasse area, Mitte, Berlin? Have a look & ear at the EQA #2943 of Hush City Map.

Screenshot of the EQA #2943. Image source: Hush City Map © Antonella Radicchi 2018

On September, 20th Antonella guided a Hush City Soundwalk in Milan, Italy. This soundwalk was organized in collaboration with Eugenio Morello and Barbara Piga, Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana Fausto Curti, Politecnico di Milano and their students of the International Master in Urban Design and Planning.
A participant reported an insightful comment addressing the relationship between green spaces and the quality of their acoustic environment: “[…] Even though all of the places we observed were green spaces, [listening to them] produced a different feeling. The first one felt familiar and nostalgic because of the sounds of the leaves and of the children playing in the school nearby. […] Whereas I perceived the other spots not so pleasant because of the lack of people’s voices or the presence of foreground traffic noise […]”.
Have a look & ear at the first place we explored: EQA #2967 of Hush City Map.

Screenshot of the EQA ##2967. Image source: Hush City Map © Antonella Radicchi 2018

On September, 24th Antonella guided a Hush City Soundwalk along the Arno River in the neighborhood Rovezzano in Florence, Italy. This soundwalk was organized in collaboration with Chiara Bartalucci, University of Florence and Vie En.Ro.Se Ingegneria, within the context of the NTP Erasmus project.
We had a group of international participants, from Italy, Turkey and Spain, all experts in environmental acoustics. A participant particularly appreciated experiencing the environment through their senses, and said: “[I would] take in account other senses. It could be interesting adding questions about “odor””. Another one appreciated “the fascinating contrast between the “built” city and the “natural” one”, concluding that “perhaps it is always possible to find a personal “quiet place””.
Would you like to travel with your imagination to Florence? Have a look & ear at the Arno River: EQA #3085 of the Hush City Map.

Screenshot of the EQA #3085. Image source: Hush City Map © Antonella Radicchi 2018

Last, but not least, on September, 27th Antonella guided a Hush City Soundwalk in the neighborhood Poblenou in Barcelona, Spain. This soundwalk was organized in collaboration with the local partner Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès, LaSalle University Barcelona.

The aim was to assess the potential of the Superblock Poblenou to act as a quiet area, by collecting citizen-generated data with local residents, professionals and public officials of the Municipality of Barcelona. The final discussion was very rewarding, and the participants shared extensive, detailed comments about the experience they had. The majority of the participants particularly appreciated the first and second stops along the route, namely a small park next to a Museum and a street pedestrianized through Tactic Urbanism actions.
A participant reflected on the importance of the role played by the experience, commenting that “the sound levels of the five places were quite similar, but it is true that the perception [of them] was more different”. Another one commented on the impact of other senses on the perception of quietness: “I would highlight the influence of smell: some quiet, beautiful places are not so pleasant due to the smells, because they are dirty or because there are people smocking around”.
Have you ever visited the Superblock Poblenou? Have a look and ear at the EQA #3126 of the Hush City Map.

Screenshot of the EQA #3126. Image source: Hush City Map © Antonella Radicchi 2018

Did you enjoy reading this newsletter?
Share with us your comments at info@opensourcesoundscapes.org or on Twitter @HUSHCITYapp.

Quiet regards from Berlin!
The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

*CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS*
The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks is initiated and coordinated by Antonella Radicchi in her role of inventor and manager of the Hush City app, and it is part of the Hush City Mobile Lab project, which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
Hush City app received funding from TU Berlin IPODI-Marie Curie Program (2016-2018) and from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation (2018-2020).
The Global Program’s Hush City Soundwalks were hosted, managed and guided by (in alphabetical order): Zoe Banks Gross, Chiara Bartalucci, Richard Bentley, Ana Villas Boas, Jeanine Botta, Paul Driscoll, Milena Droumeva, Sophie Gleeson, Marcos Holtz, Sarah Jones-Morris, Linda Keane, Jordan Lacey, Eric Leonardson, Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque, Eugenio Morello, Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès, Emanuele Porcinai, Antonella Radicchi, Lau Siu-Kit Eddie, Sharon Stewart, Jerònimo Vida Manzano.

The October newsletter features some of the twenty-first Hush City Soundwalks, which took place worldwide in September to celebrate Sound Walk Sunday 2019 and crowdsource quiet areas by using Hush City app.

In doing so, we would like to acknowledge the commitment of the Hush City Soundwalk leaders, thank them and the participants and share with you snapshots of these fabulous soundwalks!

In the past days, we asked the Hush City Soundwalk leaders whether they were willing to share their impressions of the Hush City Soundwalks, and here there are their snapshots from the soundwalks led in Paranapiacaba, Reading, Arnhem, Granada and São Paulo.

Happy reading!

The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks 4 Soundwalk Sunday 2019 was kicked off on September 1st, with the first Hush City Soundwalk guided in Paranapiacaba (Brasil) by Ana Villas Boas, with Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque.
As reported by Ana: “The Village of Paranapiacaba is an urban nucleus planned by the English in the second half of the 19th century. […] The name “Paranapiacaba” is originated from the term of the Tupi indigenous language, which means “place where the sea can be seen” […]. Thus, the initial idea […] is to map quiet areas in the village of Paranapiacaba from the soundscape approach perceived by its inhabitants for possible unfolding of the meanings of this place, beyond the visual paradigm of the landscape. […]”. Ana with Elaine conducted another Hush City Soundwalk 4 Sound Walk Sunday 2019 on September 17th.
If you are curious to explore the exotic quiet areas crowdsourced in Paranapiacaba, have a look & ear at the EQA #2907 of Hush City Map.

On September, 5th Richard Bentley led a Hush City Soundwalk in Reading (UK).
According to Richard, the Hush City soundwalk was “a wander between the quiet areas of Reading in the UK. The route highlighted the contrasting soundscapes of busy thoroughfares, quiet backstreets, public gardens and historic ruins. The sight of participants meandering slowly through the town in the fading summer sunlight, created a visual silence that passersby seemed to acknowledge and respect quite intuitively.”
Curious to explore the quiet areas crowdsourced in Reading? Have a look & ear at the EQA #2790 of Hush City Map.

Caption: Participants in the Hush City Soundwalk led by Richard in Reading. Image source: courtesy of Richard Bentley 2019.

On September, 13th Sharon Stewart of mixesfromthefield guided a Hush City Soundwalk in Arnhem(Netherlands).
In the words of Sharon, “there are not so many spots in Arnhem that are specifically designed as public sites. The whole city is designed to get you sitting at a table of a restaurant, indoors or outdoors.” “[The soundwalkers] went to the sites in Arnhem that are most explicitly created by the municipality as sites for sitting and rest, public sites. These were the most accessible in [their] limited time – according to Sharon – but [they] were a bit dismayed by how much noise there was from the loading and unloading of trucks, construction work […]and these ridiculous mopeds at top speeds…”
Nevertheless, some beautiful quiet spots were spotted and crowdsourced in Arnhem using the Hush City app!
Curious to explore them? Have a look & ear at the EQA #2848 of Hush City Map.

On September, 23rd Jerònimo Vida Manzano of the University of Granada, guided a soundwalk in the historical center of Granada (Spain).
According to Jerònimo, “the best of the soundwalk was the soundwalk itself as we enjoyed it a lot and it was a wonderful experience. Granada was shinning that day, nice weather and a lot of people around city centre giving as a result a vivid environment but, at the same time, pleasant environment at most sites. That morning we enjoyed the best (mostly human and natural) sounds around city centre.”.
Would you like to travel with your imagination to Granada? Have a look & ear at the Plaza de La Romanilla, the quiet area Jerònimo liked the most (despite the construction works!): EQA #3038 of the Hush City Map.

Last, but not least, on September, 28th Marcos Holtz and his team of ProAcustica Association led a Hush City Soundwalk in São Paulo (Brasil).
For them, “the best part was to realize the importance of this theme for the population in general. In a cloudy day, we gather more than 60 persons from such different areas like engineer, architects, artists, teachers, students and common citizens. It was really amazing!”.
Cannot you believe that in dense, big cities like São Paulo there are quiet areas? Have a look and ear at the Parque Trianon, EQA #3209 of the Hush City Map.

Caption: Participants in the Hush City Soundwalk led by Marcos Holtz and his team of of ProAcustica Association in São Paulo, Brasil. Image source: Linkedin webpage of ProAcustica Association.

Did you enjoy the snapshots shared by the Hush City soundwalk leaders?
Share with us your comments at info@opensourcesoundscapes.org or on Twitter @HUSHCITYapp, and stay tuned for the second part of the report coming out soon!

Quiet regards from Berlin!
The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

*CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS*
The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks is initiated and coordinated by Antonella Radicchi in her role of inventor and manager of the Hush City app, and it is part of the Hush City Mobile Lab project, which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
Hush City app received funding from TU Berlin IPODI-Marie Curie Program (2016-2018) and from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation (2018-2020).
The Global Program’s Hush City Soundwalks were hosted, managed and guided by (in alphabetical order): Zoe Banks Gross, Chiara Bartalucci, Richard Bentley, Ana Villas Boas, Jeanine Botta, Paul Driscoll, Milena Droumeva, Sophie Gleeson, Marcos Holtz, Sarah Jones-Morris, Linda Keane, Jordan Lacey, Eric Leonardson, Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque, Eugenio Morello, Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès, Emanuele Porcinai, Antonella Radicchi, Lau Siu-Kit Eddie, Sharon Stewart, Jerònimo Vida Manzano.

Join us for the Hush City Soundwalk Berlin on September, the 18th at 5:30 PM

Sunday September 1st, 2019 was the Sound Walk Sunday 2019, the start of a month-long global festival of soundwalking events and performances, celebrating outdoor audio, geo-located, immersive performances, listening walks and soundwalks.

On September, 18th a Hush City Soundwalk directed by Dr. Antonella Radicchi – and co-organized by musicians and sound artists Emanuele Porcinai, Amedeo Cappelletti and Pablo Diserens – will be guided in the districts of Wedding & Mitte, Pankstraße area, to map & assess quiet areas with the free app Hush City.

People from any background are invited to take part in this excursion to map & evaluate the quiet areas, confront perceptual difference/similarities and, ultimately, contribute to each other’s perspective of the urban soundscape.

Hush City Soundwalks were initiated by Antonella Radicchi in 2017, in parallel to the release of the Hush City app, a free app for iOS and Android, which enables people to create an open access, digital map of quiet areas for the benefit of the city’s inhabitants.

• Meeting point & time
at the corner Ruheplatzstrasse/Antonstrasse (at the tree) at 17:30 on the 18th of September.

• Duration
90 minutes, including a brief introduction to the activity and a final group discussion.

• Tips
+ Prior to the start of the activity, download and install on your smartphone the free Hush City app.
+ Wear soft soled shoes for the soundwalk.

• Resources
If you are curious to read more about the method of soundwalking, read “A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking” written by Dr. Antonella Radicchi.

• Acknowledgments
Hush City Soundwalk Berlin is part of the Global Program of 20 Hush City Soundwalks which will take place in September 2019 in multiple cities worldwide to celebrate the Sound Walk Sunday 2019.
The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks is coordinated by Antonella Radicchi in her role of inventor and manager of the Hush City app, and it is part of the Hush City Mobile Lab project, which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.

Join our Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks and celebrate with us the Sound Walk Sunday 2019!

The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks has been envisioned and coordinated by Antonella, and, throughout September 2019, nineteen Hush City Soundwalks will be guided by a bunch of international soundwalk leaders in many cities worldwide, like Berlin, Bristol, Milan, Brooklyn, Barcelona, Florence, and many others.

Have a look at the 2019 Global Program and save the date!

Hush City Soundwalks were initiated by Antonella in 2017, in parallel to the release of the Hush City app: they are free, public soundwalks guided in search of quietness, in which the Hush City app is exploited to map and evaluate quiet areas in cities.
Data collected with the Hush City app is linked in real time to the Hush City Map, a web-based map accessible to everyone interested in finding quiet areas nearby the places they live or in other cities worldwide.

Why is it important to map urban quiet areas?

The protection of quiet areas in cities is key to planning for healthy cities: access to quiet areas help counterbalancing the negative impact of noise on our health, favoring psycho- and physiological well-being and lowering levels of stress. Our cities are becoming noisier by the hour. Only in Europe, over 125 million people are affected by noise pollution from traffic every year, and apparently, quietness is becoming a luxury available only to a few of us.
Hush City app helps you tackle this challenge, by enabling you identify, map and evaluate quiet areas in your neighborhoods. You can find places such as small, quiet spots where you can go to escape the city’s chaos, relax, read a book, play with your kids, and have a pleasant conversation. Chill out!

Celebrate with us the Sound Walk Sunday 2019 and join one of our Hush City Soundwalks!

It’s simple.
o Have a look at he 2019 Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks
o Pick up the Hush City Soundwalk you would like to join
o Make sure to download Hush City app prior to the event (it’s free!)
o If curious, read A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking
o Join the Hush City Soundwalk & enjoy it!
o Share with us your experience, by using the hashtags: #SWS2019 #HushCitySoundwalks

Quiet regards from Berlin and Happy Sound Walk Sunday 2019!
The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks is initiated and coordinated by Antonella Radicchi in her role of inventor and manager of the Hush City app, and it is part of the Hush City Mobile Lab project (2018-2020), which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
Hush City app received funding from TU Berlin, IPODI-Marie Curie Program (2016-2018) and from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation (2018-2020).
The Global Program’s Hush City Soundwalks are hosted, managed and guided by (in alphabetical order): Zoe Banks Gross, Chiara Bartalucci, Richard Bentley, Ana Villas Boas, Jeanine Botta, Paul Driscoll, Milena Droumeva, Sophie Gleeson, Marcos Holtz, Sarah Jones-Morris, Linda Keane, Jordan Lacey, Eric Leonardson, Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque, Eugenio Morello, Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès, Emanuele Porcinai, Antonella Radicchi, Lau Siu-Kit Eddie, Sharon Stewart, Jerònimo Vida Manzano.

The September newsletter presents the new papers which have been recently published online, as part of the special issue “Sound and the Healthy City” for the “Cities and Health” Journal.
The special issue is curated by Antonella as Lead Guest Editor, along with Lindsay McCunn, the managing editor, and a fantastic bunch of guest co-editors (in alphabetical order): Pınar Çevikayak Yelmi, Andy Chung, Pamela Jordan, Sharon Stewart, Aggelos Tsaligopoulos.
The aim of the special issue is to put together transdisciplinary contributions which address not only the negative effects of noise pollution but also the positive effects of the acoustic environment on people’s health and quality of life.

The city short “Right to party versus right to quietness? Mitigating noise conflicts of free open air events in Berlin” is authored by a group of students of the Technical University of Berlin and it was published online on June 26th, 2019.
It presents the Model Space project which was aimed to mitigate the conflicts in public spaces between people seeking leisure and those needing quietness, by among other things directing free open air events to conflict-avoiding spaces. It also outlines the spatial analysis conducted to identify suitable spaces for free open-air events.
Full article is available here.

The think piece “Marketing sonic thinking with creative visualization: getting decision-makers to listen”is authored by Christopher Williams and Charlie Morrow and it was published online on July 1st, 2019.
It discusses how sound artists’ and musicians’ knowledge can make a difference in the planning and construction of healthy cities. It also reflects on the challenges faced by the authors in their practice, represented by communicating their knowledge about the importance of sound to visually-oriented professionals who design and manage urban spaces. The authors also outline their learnings in order to develop principles for visualizing sonic environments that can help decision-makers to listen to and with them.
Full article is available here.

The original scholarship “Mobile crowd-sensing as a resource for contextualized urban public policies: a study using three use cases on noise and soundscape monitoring” is authored by Bruno Lefevre, Rachit Agarwal, Valerie Issarny & Vivien Mallet and it was published online on July 18th, 2019.
It discusses the complex relationship between environmental noise and its perception by the citizens, highlighting the importance of collecting and aggregating contextualized – both quantitative and qualitative – data about the urban environmental noise so as to be able to study the objective and subjective relationships between sound and living beings. In this paper, the authors also investigate how Mobile Phone Sensing – i.e. crowd-sensing – enables the gathering of such knowledge, by presenting three case studies carried out in France and Finland, where MPS was used as a tool for sensitizing citizens and decision-makers about noise pollution and for increasing knowledge about the impact of the environmental noise on people’s health and well-being in relation to its physical and subjective perception.
Full article is available here.

The think piece “Adaptive soundscape design for liveable urban spaces: a hybrid methodology across environmental acoustics and sonic art” is authored by Mattia Cobianchi, John Drever and Lisa Lavia and it was published online on July 19th, 2019.
It presents a doctoral research under development by Mattia Cobianchi at Goldsmiths University of London, aimed at identifying and implementing soundscape improvement strategies in urban areas, based on loudspeaker placements in the outdoor environment and the use of a computer-based system for adaptive soundscape generation, integrating sonic art practice with acoustic engineering rigour.
Full article is available here.

In the next weeks, we will be featuring further publications of the special issue “Sound and the Healthy City”.

So, stay tuned and happy reading!

Quiet regards from Berlin,

The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

Fontana delle Anfore, Piazza Testaccio, 00153 Roma RM, Italy. This everyday quiet area is rated as beautiful and it is no. 2642 of the Hush City Map

We are thrilled to dedicate this newsletter to four new papers which have been recently published online, as part of the special issue “Sound and the Healthy City” for the Cities and Health Journal. The special issue is curated by Antonella as Lead Guest Editor, along with Lindsay McCunn, the managing editor, and a fantastic bunch of guest co-editors (in alphabetical order): Pınar Çevikayak Yelmi, Andy Chung, Pamela Jordan, Sharon Stewart, Aggelos Tsaligopoulos.
The aim of the special issue is to put together transdisciplinary contributions which address not only the negative effects of noise pollution but also the positive effects of the acoustic environment on people’s health and quality of life.

The case study “Ecological connectivity of urban quiet areas: the case of Mytilene, Greece” is authored by Aggelos Tsaligopoulos, Aimilia Karapostoli, Antonella Radicchi, Chris Economou, Stella Kyvelou & Yiannis G. Matsinos and it was published online on May 17th, 2019.
It highlights a case study made to evaluate the ecological connectivity of two quiet areas in the city of Mytilene (Greece), using the DPSIR (Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response) framework, which focuses on the description of environmental problems.
Full article is available here.

The think piece “Tranquil City: identifying opportunities for urban tranquillity to promote healthy lifestyles” is authored by Grant Waters, Ben Warren, Eleanor Ratcliffe & Julie Godefroy and it was published online on June 5th, 2019.
It discusses how rest and recuperation are fundamental to well-being and how experiencing tranquil spaces can support this need amid stressful urban living. It also presents Tranquil Pavement London, which helps people discover and share tranquil spaces and navigate via low pollution pathways.
Full article is available here.

The reflective praxis paper “Developing sound-aware cities: a model for implementing sound quality objectives within urban design and planning processes” is authored by Trond Maag, Andres Bosshard & Sven Anderson and it was published online on June 13th, 2019.
It describes a process for facilitating communication about sound and the public realm between a variety of urban actors. This process is based on an experience-led model that includes guided walks, interdisciplinary discussions, and the cooperative production of site-specific infographics.
Full article is available here.

The think piece “Hidden geographies: design for neurodivergent ways of hearing and sensing” is authored by Danielle Toronyi and it was published online on June 14th, 2019.
It discusses how acoustics are a dominant sensory component of the city, that may significantly impact Autistic people’s experience of the urban environment. It also presents a research project comprising a qualitative evaluation of Autistic adults’ sensory and acoustic experience of urban space through an embodied ethnographic study, which is aimed at developing guidelines for inclusive design which accommodate the auditory and sensory needs of Autistic people.
Full article is available here.

In the next weeks, we will be featuring further publications of the special issue “Sound and the Healthy City”.

So, stay tuned and happy reading!

Thank you and quiet regards from Berlin,

The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

21 Stoke Park Rd, Bristol BS9 1JF, UK. This everyday quiet area is rated as relaxing and it is no. 2660 of the Hush City Map

Do you know that July, 18th is the World Listening Day?
Every year many fabulous activities are organized all around the world to sensitize about the importance of listening and to live in healthy sonic environments.
This year’s theme is Listening with created by the sound artist Annea Lockwood with the aim of encouraging “listening with an awareness that all around [us] are other life-forms simultaneously listening and sensing with [us]”.
This year, we celebrated it with a soundwalk, which was led by Antonella in Charlottenburg on July, 8th 2019 with a group of twenty-two students enrolled in the course “Economics of City and Regional Planning” (“Ökonomische Grundlagen der Stadt- und Regionalplanung“) led by TU Berlin Prof. Dr. L. Suwala.

What is a soundwalk?

A soundwalk is an excursion in an area with a focus on listening to the acoustic environment so as to possibly evaluate its impact on human health, well-being and biodiversity. If you are curious to read more on the topic, have a look at A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking – an  introductory, brief guide to this participatory method, written by Antonella.

A soundwalk in Charlottenburg

The soundwalk in Charlottenburg was led with the main purpose to evaluate the acoustic and environmental quality of three public spaces, as potential and/or existing quiet areas.
Firstly, participants were given an introduction to the activity on field, afterwards they were guided in a walk along a predefined path in Charlottenburg. The group stopped at three public spaces along the path, listened to the environment in silence, and, then, the participants mapped and evaluated the public spaces, using the Hush City app. A group discussion took place at the end of the activity to reflect on the importance of curating urban, green oases of quietness as a measure to protect health and improve quality of life.

Results

During the soundwalk, the participants crowdsourced overall fifty-two datasets, which were georeferenced and time-stamped, and linked in real time to the Hush City Map.To explore the datasets collected, click here and follow the instructions:

1) Click on the “List” icon on the top-right corner of the screen

Figure 1: Screen of the Hush City Map in Map View Mode

2) Digit in the “search” space: Berlin and explore the datasets from no. 2562 up to no. 2619, by clicking on “More details”

Figure 2: Screen of the Hush City Map in List View Mode

3) Listen to the audio recorded, by clicking on the arrow, and read the User Feedback, by clicking on the “View User Feedback” button

Figure 3: Detail of the dataset no. 2616

Last, but not least: don’t forget to share with us your experience using the Hush City Map and app!
You can email Antonella at info@opensourcesundscapes.org and/or rate the Hush City app on the website or on the Apple and Google Play stores.

Thank you and quiet regards from Berlin,

The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

Savignyplatz, 10623 Berlin, Germany. This everyday quiet area is rated as beautiful and it is no. 2602 of the Hush City Map

Participatory projects, like Hush City, can greatly benefit from the support of journalists and the media in spreading the word around, raising public interest and enhancing participation.

We have been therefore truly grateful to those, who in the past two years have spontaneously supported the Hush City project by means of journal articles, blog posts, radio programs and TV shows. If curious, a full list of contributions in English, German and Italian is available here.

This week, we are thrilled to dedicate this newsletter to three terrific articles featuring Hush City in June 2019.

On June, 18 2019, Randy Scott Caroll wrote about Hush City in the article For children in the city, how loud is too loud? in the WHYY web-zine.
Randy Scott Caroll, reflecting on how finding a quiet place can seem harder and harder in Philadelphia these days, introduces the readers to the Hush City app, which was released to tackle this challenge and favour discovering nocks of quietness in cities. She moves on drawing the attention on the negative effects of noise on health and well-being, which can particularly affect children as Dr. Arline Bronzaft effectively reports in the article, recalling the landmark studies she conducted in NYC in the 1970s and 1980s.

On June, 21 2019, John Surico wrote about Hush City in the article My Quixotic Quest for Quiet in New York City in the Citylab web-zine.
John Surico shares his struggling experience to find relief from the din of new construction and traffic in a booming city, like NY,  and he reports on the conversation he had with Antonella, while soundwalking in Lower Manhattan, addressing city sounds & noises, Hush City and current NYC programs.

Last but not least, on June, 28 2019, Linda Poon wrote about Antonella’s take on the difference between sound and noise in the article Navigator: Noise vs. Sound in the Citylab web-zine.
Linda Poon refers to Surico’s article and expands on the difference between noise and sound, by sharing a description of the sounds she heard during the 15-minute walk from the bus stop to her office. She moves on reflecting on how much our perception of sound is affected by social, cultural and personal determinants and invites the readers to take a moment to reflect on what they hear as they wonder around their city.

Did you enjoy reading these articles? Would you like to share with us your comments and thoughts?

Don’t be shy!

Get in touch with Antonella at: info@opensourcesoundscapes.org and follow us on Twitter @HUSHCITYapp @btnoss

Quiet regards from Berlin!
The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

Unnamed Road, Psarades 530 77, Greece. This everyday quiet area is rated as natural and it is no. 2537 of the Hush City Map

We are delighted and honored to announce that Hush City has been awarded an Honorary Mention in the Category Excellence, within the context of the 2019 PRIX BLOXHUB INTERACTIVE for projects and ideas which are aimed at making urban space more “liveable using digital technology”.

In total the open call received 122 ideas and of those the prestigious jury – consisting of Carlo Ratti (MIT), Helle Søholt (Gehl Architects), Gerfried Stoecker (Ars Electronica), Kaj Grønbæk (Aarhus University), Indy Johar (00 Architects), Natalie Mossin (UN), Marius Sylvestersen (City of Copenhagen) – chose 2 winners and granted 8 honorary mentions.

Hush City along with the winners and the other honorary mentions are featured in the PRIX BLOXHUB INTERACTIVE’s website and the projects will be exhibited at the 2019 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (Austria) on 5-9 September 2019.

The winners and the honorary mentions were also awarded at the BLOXHUB Conference, which took place in Copenhagen on 21-22 May 2019. Because Antonella was in New York for the research stay and she could not attend the conference, we thought to celebrate the award, dedicating this newsletter to feature the winners and the honorary mentions!

The followings are the honorary mentions and the winners, as reported in the PRIX BLOXHUB INTERACTIVE’s website.

HUSH CITY APP
Category Excellence, Honorary Mention
Is a noisy city liveable? The Hush City project takes inspiration from citizen science and uses the free Hush City app to involve people in the identification and evaluation of urban quiet areas. Hush City uses technology as a means to increase the knowledge about actual noise conditions in cities, and empowers citizens in defining their liveable urban spaces.

GROW YOUR OWN CLOUD
Honorary Mention
Grow your own cloud explores how reforming human associations with seemingly abstract and immaterial data, can create opportunities for more liveable urban environments. It does this by reimagining the cloud, creating new relationships with data by storing data nature’s way, in the DNA of plants.

PHI – YOUR INTERFACE TO PEER-TO-PEER ENERGY
Honorary Mention
Phi Collective helps community leaders go from having no culture of dealing with electricity, to possessing the tools and knowledge to share energy, accelerate new alternative energy sources, and take control of their own development improving their living conditions.

SHELTER LIGHTS
Honorary Mention
The purpose of the concept is to create space for homelessness in the city scape, this entails both a physical place and room for dialogue. This is done through an app for shelter staff, an app for the homeless and a light installation.

HYBRID URBAN ECOSYSTEMS AND ITS GREEN PATHWAYS: UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN CAPABILITIES OF THE CITY’S ROOFSCAPES
Honorary Mention
This project provides an interactive mapping platform, that explores the unused agricultural capabilities of the roofscape. By promoting a way of envisioning the city across its different layers of complexity, the idea is to look at the rooftop agriculture as a possible driver for social and environmental sustainability.

OURHUB
Honorary Mention
They have designed a solution that makes it possible for individuals to access games and training equipments on site 24/7 and to connect with other people around playful outdoor experiences.

PARKLET APP
Honorary Mention
Parklet App is a project based registration app, combining GPS and Open Data, where citizens via Augmented reality can draft and suggest new proposals for temporary design of a public space.

DIGITAL GARDEN LAB – DIGITALLY AUGMENTED EDIBLE URBAN LANDSCAPES
Honorary Mention
Digital Garden Lab is researching new methods of urban food production and community engagement facilitated by digital augmentation.

MAPPLE
Category Excellence, Winner
Mapple’s urban intelligence software helps city planners use data to better understand the area they are planning to develop, predict the impact of their developments and make sure they change the lives of the residents for the better.

FLORA ROBOTICA
Category Concept, Winner
The broader project has been developed in an interdisciplinary team and investigates closely linked symbiotic relationships between robots and natural plants, to produce new living spaces.

Did you enjoy the projects and ideas for making our cities more liveable?
Let us know your favorite ones at info@opensourcesoundscapes.org

Quiet regards from Berlin!
The Hush City Mobile Lab Team

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

Wörther Str. 37, 10435 Berlin, Germany. This everyday quiet area is rated as relaxing and it is no. 2385 of the Hush City Map.

We are thrilled to dedicate this newsletter to new publications and projects addressing placemaking, healthy cities and community-driven technology.

“Sound and the Healthy City”

Four new papers have been recently published online, as part of our special issue “Sound and the Healthy City” of the Journal, “Cities and Health” published by Routledge.

Professor Emerita and leading noise expert, Dr. Arline Bronzaft authored: “Supporting healthier urban environments with a sound and noise curriculum for students”.
This article introduces readers to Dr. Bronzaft‘s work with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection on the Sound and Noise Module Curriculum. The curriculum would teach children about the beauty of the good sounds and the dangers of loud sounds and noise.
The lesson plans on the Sound and Noise Module are a worthwhile read for all people interested in working towards a quieter and healthier society and it can be accessed at the New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection site.
The full article is available here.

Professor Emeritus and co-founder of the legendary World Soundscape Project project, Barry Truax, authored: “Acoustic sustainability in urban design: lessons from the World Soundscape Project”.
The contribution illustrates the pioneering work of the World Soundscape Project in North America and Europe in the 1970s, which has laid a foundation for acoustic ecology, soundscape composition and a model of the acoustic community. Based on this work, the author suggests some guiding principles for the qualitative aspects of urban acoustic design and sustainability that address quality of life issues.
The full article is available here.

Humam geographer Dr. Brandley Rink (University of Western Cape) and Lwando Klaas (University of Cape Town) authored: “Flying, health and the city: sensing aeromobility and risk in an informal settlement”.
The contribution illustrates the findings of a research, which explored the relationships between flying, health and the city from the perspective of an informal settlement called Freedom Farm in Cape Town, South Africa, located underneath the flight path for Cape Town International Airport. Using semi-structured interviews with Freedom Farm residents and participant observation, this study explores the terrestrial experience and associated perceptions of health risks of aeromobility from the vantage point of informal dwellers.
The full article is available here.

Helen Steiger, project manager at DG Cities, authored: “A London municipality’s electric refuse collection vehicle – ‘The eRCV project’”.
The contribution illustrates a repowered, 26-tonne end-of-operational-life diesel Refuse Collection Vehicle, converted to be fully electric, by a consortium of partners comprising Magnetic Systems Technology, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and DG Cities Limited. The article shows that repowered, end of life, electric Refuse Collection Vehicles offer a viable alternative to diesel powered vehicles to reduce noise within urban areas, whilst maintaining a high-quality service, producing zero-emissions and supporting the principles of a circular economy, by re-using valuable resources.
The full article is available here.

„Our City? Countering Exclusion In Public Space”

We are truly proud to be part of the first publication by the European Placemaking Network with a piece on HUSH CITY app as a digital participatory tool for placemaking healthier and quieter cities!
The book presents „research insights, local stories, tools, and actions, from a variety of voices, to provide you with a clear understanding of what is needed to maintain a sense of belonging in our cities’ public places”. The book also “shows how actively working with the local community, from engagement through to design, can change the way urban spaces are created and activated”.
You can pre-order the book here. Happy reading!

NOISY

NYU Professor Tae Hong Park has recently kicked off NOISY.
NOISY is an AI Powered Automated Airplane Noise Reporting System that can automatically send noise complaints to your participating local airport and, even more importantly, save evidential data for future use.
You can read more on the project, watch the stunning introductory video, and back the project here.

And…“when things get loud, get NOISY!!”

Quiet regards from New York City and Berlin!

Everyday Quiet Area of the Week

Calle Angulo, 9, 18002 Granada, Spain.
This everyday quiet area is rated as lively and it is no. 2274 of the Hush City Map