Antonella Radicchi

Antonella Radicchi

Architect and Urbanist, PhD

HUSH CITY 4 LIMERICK

Images of the pop-ups created by the City of Limerick for promoting the use of the Hush City app within the context of the Limerick European Green Leaf City 2020. Image Source: (C) City of Limerick 2020.

DESCRIPTION

Limerick was awarded the title of European Green Leaf City 2020 (along with Mechelen, Belgium) in recognition of the city’s commitment to better environmental outcomes, with a particular accent on efforts that generate: green growth, new jobs, improved air and acoustic quality in the city, sustainable mobility, energy districts and smart neighbourhoods.
An ambitious programme of environmental events is planned for 2020 in Limerick and Hush City will be proudly part of these European Green Leaf Events!

    • Hush City App
      Limerick City and County Council invites people to use the Hush City app to map tranquil spaces in and around Limerick City. Read more here.
    • Hush City Soundwalk (this activity is postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak)
    • On Wednesday 3rd June 2020, Dr. Arch. Antonella Radicchi of the TU Berlin Institute for Urban and Regional Planning will be leading a soundwalk for citizens in Limerick which builds on the promotion of the Hush City app in Limerick. The participants will be guided in a soundwalk through quiet areas in Limerick and invited to collect data using the Hush City app. The walk will last approximately 1.5 hours, including an introduction to the activity and a final group discussion with the participants.

 

    Meeting point: at the People’s Museum at 6PM.

YEAR

2020-2021

LAUNCH THE LIMERICK EUROPEAN GREEN LEAF EVENT GUIDE

LAUNCH THE HUSH CITY APP

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Hush City was invented and is managed by Dr. Arch. Antonella Radicchi.
The first version of the Hush City app received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. 600209 (TU Berlin – IPODI).
The second version of the Hush City app received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.

SOUND- & LIGHTWALKS

Berlin-walk-c-Radicchi2019
Figure above: Map of the sound- & lightwalk guided in Berlin in 2019. Image source: Antonella Radicchi © 2019

What is a combined sound- & lightwalk?

The combined sound & lightwalks were invented in 2016 by Antonella Radicchi and Dietrich Henckel, respectively expert in soundscape research and lightscape studies. A combined sound and lightwalk usually focuses on two senses at a time (i.e. hearing and vision) and it takes place in the time-space of the night , since artificial light is mainly a nocturnal phenomenon. To define this novel method of combined sound and light walks, theory and practice of sound walking are taken as a reference. A combined sound and lightwalk are therefore defined as any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment and looking at its artificially lit components. For practice, it is taken as a reference the “4 Variations” framework, which indicates how to perform silent soundwalks, commented soundwalks with “simple evaluation points”, “solo soundwalks” and “soundwalks with complex evaluation points” (Radicchi 2017).

YEARS

2016-on

PUBLIC ENGAGMENT

Ideation, organization and leading of public group sound & light walks (with D. Henckel):

• Berlin, Germany, 28 November 2019. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhood Friedrichshain at the “Stadt Nach Acht 2019 – International Nightlife“ Conference.
• Rome, Italy, 7 June 2017. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhood Celio, Rome, at the 32nd Italian Congress of Geography.
• Florence, Italy, 29 November 2016. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhoood Santa Croce with the students of the TU Berlin.
• Berlin, Germany, 3 November 2016. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhoood Kreuzberg with the students of the TU Berlin.

SOUNDWALKS

00_soundwalk_intro 05_soundwalk_LISBON 04_soundwalk_2015_FI_ICSV-oltrarno 03_soundwalk_2015_FI_TR_BIS

WHAT IS A SOUNDWALK?

A soundwalk is “any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment”(Westerkamp, 1974). It is a walk whose main purpose is listen to any sound of the environment, near and far from us, continuous and discontinuous, in the foreground and in the background, sounds that we like and noises that we don’t like.
Ears first, please!

HOW I LEAD A SOUNDWALK

My soundwalks usually last approximately 1.5 hours, and I always open them with an introduction to the activity on the field and I end them with a group discussion so that the participants can share their impressions when the experience is still vivid.
During the soundwalks, I guide the participants along a predefined path composed of several listening points. At each listening point, we stop and listen actively to the environment. Then, the participants can be invited to evaluate the listening point and collect data. The procedure is repeated at each listening point.
Depending on the aim of the soundwalk, I can lead silent soundwalks, commented soundwalks, soundwalks with complex evaluation points and/or solo soundwalks.
The number of participants is usually limited to 25/30 people.
In 2017 I also initiated the Hush City Soundwalks, in which the Hush City app is exploited to map and evaluate quiet areas along the soundwalks’ route. Data collected with the Hush City app is linked in real-time to the Hush City Map & ready to be further explored, discussed and exploited to design and plan healthier cities.

If you are curious to learn more about how I design and guide a soundwalk, read my A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking.

TIPS

It may happen that you find yourself listening to your internal thoughts. No panic 🙂 Listening to environmental sounds, especially when the environemnt is loud, might be challenging. Just focus on breathing and listen to a sound that you like or that is intriguing. This tip will help you to re-open your ears to the environment.

(Y)EARS!

My first soundwalk dated back to 2009 and was guided by Albert Mayr in Bologna. Then, I had the privilege of being guided in soundwalking by Justin Winkler (Firenze, 2011), Andra McCartney (Montreal, 2012) and Des Coulam (Paris, 2014). Since 2012, I have guided soundwalks in Firenze, Ferrara, Rome, Lisbon, Berlin, Hamburg, Pistoia, Rotterdam and Madrid (forthcoming, November 2018).

INVITED PUBLIC WALKS WITH SCHOLARS, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, STUDENTS AND PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

Ideation, organization and leading of public group soundwalks:

• Trento, Italy, 17 September 2021, digital soundwalk at the conference “Soundscape in urban and building design“, University of Trento.
• Limerick, Ireland, 3 June 2020, Series of soundwalks at the Green Leaf Week, in collaboration with Limerick City Council. Postponed, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• 2019 Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks for the celebration of the Sunday Walk Sunday 2019.
• Barcelona, Spain, 27 September 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Poblenou, in collaboration with University LaSalle Barcelona.
• Florence, Italy, 24 September 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Rovezzano, in collaboration with the University of Firenze.
• Milan, Italy, 20 September 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Morivione, in collaboration with the LabSimUrb, Polytechnic of Milan.
• Berlin, 18 September 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Mitte – Pankstrasse area.
• Berlin, 8 July 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Charlottenburg with the students of the TU Berlin.
• New York, USA, 24 April 2019 soundwalk in the neighbourhood West Village, organized within the context of the New York University Workshop “Noise Quietness and the Healthy City” for the International Noise Awareness Day 2019 at New York University.
• New York, USA, 8 April 2019, soundwalk in the neighbourhood West Village, with the students of the New York University (with A. Bronzaft and T. H. Park).
• Madrid, Spain, 27 November 2018, soundwalk in the historical centre of Madrid within the context of the CONAMA Conference on the Environment.
• Rome, 18 October 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Testaccio, organized with the Association Testaccio in Piazza.
• Berlin, Germany, 11 September 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Pankstrasse, Mitte, organized with the Berlin Municipality within the participatory campaign for the Berlin Plan of Quiet Areas (2018-2023).
• Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2 September 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Delfthafen within the context of the “The Anxious City“ Festival.
• Berlin, Germany, 18 July 2018, two Soundwalks in the neighbourhood Reuterkiez, organized for the World Listening Day 2018.
• Berlin, Germany, 16 May 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Altstadt Köpenick, organized with the Berlin Municipality within the participatory campaign for the Berlin Plan of Quiet Areas (2018-2023).
• Pistoia, Italy, 26-27 April 2018, two Soundwalks in the historical center of Pistoia organized within the context of the international conference “Paesaggi sonori/Urban Soundscapes“.
• Berlin, Germany, 17 April 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Reuterkiez with the students of the Rütlischule, organized for the International Noise Awareness Day 2018.
• Berlin, Germany, 6 March 2018. Berlin, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Reuterkiez, with the students of the University of Pennsylvania, Berlin fieldtrip,
• Hamburg, Germany, 12 January 2018, soundwalk in the neighbourhood HafenCity, with the students of the HafenCity University.
• Berlin, Germany, 1 September 2017, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Reuterkiez, Berlin with the students of the University of Edinburgh, Berlin ethno-fieldtrip.
• Berlin, Germany, 24 April 2017, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Reuterkiez with the students of the Rütlischule, organized for the International Noise Awareness Day 2018.
• Florence, Italy, 16 July 2015, two soundwalks in the neighbourhood Oltrarno and San Lorenzo, Florence, at the XXII International Conference on Sound & Vibration.
• Florence, Italy, 9 May 2015, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Isolotto, Florence at the Tempo Reale Festival.
• Rome, Italy, 21 November 2014, soundwalk in the neighbourhood Esquilino, organized with the University of RomaTre.

Ideation, organization and leading of public group sound & light walks (with D. Henckel):

• Berlin, Germany, 28 November 2019. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhood Friedrichshain at the “Stadt Nach Acht 2019 – International Nightlife“ Conference.
• Rome, Italy, 7 June 2017. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhood Celio, Rome, at the 32nd Italian Congress of Geography.
• Florence, Italy, 29 November 2016. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhoood Santa Croce with the students of the TU Berlin.
• Berlin, Germany, 3 November 2016. Combined sound & light walk in the neighbourhoood Kreuzberg with the students of the TU Berlin.

HUSH CITY 4 SWS2019

Samples of Everyday Quiet Areas crowdsourced worldwide with the Hush City app (Images source: Hush City Map)

DESCRIPTION

The 2019 Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks takes place in September 2019 in multiple cities worldwide to celebrate the Sound Walk Sunday 2019. Starting on September 1st 2019 and continuing during the month, 21 Hush City Soundwalks will be guided by different soundwalk leaders in multiple locations worldwide, using the Hush City app.

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 each Hush City Soundwalk is hosted and managed by the following reference persons & soundwalk leaders (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.

See below the Global Program & Save the Dates!

Hush City Soundwalks were initiated by Antonella Radicchi in 2017, in parallel to the released of the Hush City app: they are soundwalks in which the Hush City app is exploited to map and evaluate quiet areas. After its launch on the market, Hush City has been developed within the context of not-profit soundscape and citizen science research projects aimed at mapping and evaluating everyday quiet areas. Data collected with the Hush City app is linked in real time to the Hush City Map, open access to everyone.

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.

The Hush City app will help you tackle this challenge and identify, map and evaluate everyday quiet areas in your neighbourhoods. 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 the Hush City Soundwalks!
It’s simple.

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

GLOBAL PROGRAM OF HUSH CITY SOUNDWALKS

  • September, 1st 2019, Paranapiacaba, Brasil
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Ana Villas Boas, with Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque
    Meeting point & Time:  Train Station, Paranapiacaba, Santo André, São Paulo at 10 AM
    Contact details: acsvillasboas@gmail.com
  • September, 4th 2019, Bristol, UK
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Zoe Banks Gross
    Meeting point & time: Knowle West Media Centre at 12 PM
    Contact details: zoe@kwmc.org.uk
  • September, 5th 2019, Reading, UK
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Richard Bentley
    Meeting point & Time: St Mary’s Minster Church, Chain Street at 6 PM
    Contact details: bentleyr@me.com
  • September, 8th 2019, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Jeanine Botta
    Meeting point & time: Target Brooklyn Junction store at 1598 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn at 2 PM
    Contact details: jeanineb@bway.net
  • September, 10th 2019, Singapore
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Lau Siu-Kit Eddie
    Meeting point & time: Level 3, SDE4, 4 Architecture Drive, NUS at 3 PM
    Contact details: slau@acousticsresearch.com
  • September, 11th 2019, Chicago, USA
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Linda Keane
    Meeting point & time: Northerly Island at 2 PM
  • September, 13th 2019, Arnhem, Netherlands
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Sharon Stewart
    Meeting point & time: Willemsplein at the bus stop at 11:30 AM
    Contact details: mixesfromthefield@gmail.com
  • September, 15th 2019, Chicago, USA
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Eric Leonardson
    Meeting point & time: PO Box Collective, 6900 N. Glenwood Ave. at 10 AM
    Contact details: info@mwsae.org & event page
  • September, 17th 2019, Vancouver, Canada
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Milena Droumeva, with Stacey Copeland, Joey Zaurrini
    Meeting point & time: Tinseltown by Starbucks (outside) at 12 PM
    Contact details: mvdroume@sfu.ca
  • September, 17th 2019, Paranapiacaba, Brasil
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Ana Villas Boas, with Elaine Moraes de Albuquerque
    Meeting point & Time: at the Church’s yard “Senhor Bom Jesus” at 10 AM
    Contact details: acsvillasboas@gmail.com
  • September, 20th 2019, Milan, Italy
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Eugenio Morello & Antonella Radicchi
    Meeting point & time: viale Tibaldi 41, in front of the Municipio 5 at 10:30 AM
    Contact details: eugenio.morello@polimi.it
  • September, 23rd 2019, Granada, Spain
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Jerònimo Vida Manzano
    Meeting point & time: Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de Granada, puerta principal en calle Málaga at 11 AM
    Contact details: jvida@ugr.es
  • September, 24th 2019, Firenze, Italy
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Chiara Bartalucci & Antonella Radicchi
    Meeting point & time: at the train station of Rovezzano, Firenze, at 12 PM
  • September, 28th 2019, Melbourne, Australia 
    Reference Person & Soundwalk Leader: Jordan Lacey & Sophie Gleeson
    Meeting point & time: Corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street – in front of the 7-11 at 11 AM
    Contact details: sophie.gleeson@rmit.edu.au

YEAR

2019

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Global Program of Hush City Soundwalks is part of the Hush City Mobile Lab project, which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
The first version of the Hush City app received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. 600209 (TU Berlin – IPODI).
The second version of the Hush City app received funding from theHEAD-Genuit Foundation.

LAUNCH THE HUSH CITY APP

LAUNCH THE HOW-TO GUIDE TO HUSH CITY SOUNDWALKS

SCARICA IL COMUNICATO STAMPA IN ITALIANO

A POCKET GUIDE TO SOUNDWALKING

NYC INAD 2019

DESCRIPTION

For the celebration of the International Noise Awareness Day (INAD) 2019, public Hush City soundwalks and a day-long workshop take place in New York throughout April and May 2019.
Save the Dates!

  • April 8th 2019
    A soundwalk is guided by Antonella, with NYU Professor Tae Hong Park, Dr. Arline Bronzaft and NYU students in the Washington Square Park area to visit, evaluate and map quiet areas, using the Hush City app.
    Data collected by the participants are accessible on the Hush City Map here.
    More info on the event can be found here.
    This soundwalk is supported by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA): read more here.
  • April 24th 2019
    A day-long workshop “Noise, Quietness, and the Healthy City” is hosted at New York University (NYU) with talks, discussions, and a soundwalk in the Washington Square Park area. This workshop is aimed at addressing this gap by engaging the NYC community with expert talks and soundwalks that will provide answers to important questions about city noise, including: What exactly is noise pollution? How does noise affect urban environments, population health, and local economies? What reduction measures and strategies is NYC implementing? What are quiet urban areas and what state-of-the-art measures exist for their identification and protection? What is the “soundscape approach” to noise pollution? Why does it represent a citizen-driven paradigm shift? What are the tools and resources available to take action and contribute to protection of quiet areas in cities?
    Invited speakers include (in alphabetical order):
    Adrian Benepe, Senior Vice-President and Director of National Programs, The Trust for Public Land
    Arline Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board member, GrowNYC
    Nancy Nadler, MED, MA, Deputy Executive Director, Center for Hearing and Communication
    Tae Hong Park, Ph.D., Professor at New York University and Chief Architect of Citygram and CTO of NOISY
    – Antonella Radicchi, Ph.D., TU Berlin Soundscape Researcher, HEAD-Genuit Foundation Fellow and inventor of the Hush City app
    Charles Shamoon, Esq., New York City Department of the Environmental Protection (DEP)
    Organizers and collaborators
    The “Noise, Quietness, and the Healthy City” workshop is organized by Antonella Radicchi, Tae Hong Park, and Arline Bronzaft and it has been made possible with the support of (in alphabetical order): Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC), Dayton Audio by Parts Express, GrowNYC, HEAD-Genuit Foundation, New York City Department of the Environmental Protection (DEP), New York University (NYU), NoiseGate, Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), The Quiet Coalition, The Trust for Public Land.
    Read more here.
  • May 16th 2019
    A soundwalk is guided by Antonella in the Little Italy area with the Elisabeth Street Garden community. The aim of the soundwalk is to raise awareness on the importance of accessing oases of calmness in the noisy and dense Manhattan. During the soundwalk, the group visit, evaluate and map quiet spots in the Little Italy area, using the Hush City app.
    Data collected by the participants are accessible on the Hush City Map here.
    More info on the event can be found here.

YEAR

2019

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Workshop and the three soundwalks were organised within the context of the Hush City Mobile Lab project, which has received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
The first version of the Hush City app received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. 600209 (TU Berlin – IPODI).
The second version of the Hush City app received funding from theHEAD-Genuit Foundation.

LAUNCH THE HUSH CITY APP

A POCKET GUIDE TO SOUNDWALKING

HUSH CITY MOBILE LAB

HCML-COVER

DESCRIPTION

The Hush City Mobile Lab’s mission is to make our cities quieter and healthier places to live in.

But, what is quietness? And how can it be defined and addressed?
In the same way that health cannot be defined as “merely the absence of disease” (WHO, 1948), the mere absence of noise is not sufficient to define quietness and ensure a good sonic environment for our physical and mental health, and social well-being.

At Hush City Mobile Lab we believe that people, like you, need to be (re)placed at the core of urban planning processes and engaged to identify, evaluate and plan everyday quiet areas in cities.
To reach this goal we apply the “open source soundscapes” methodology, combining methods and tools drawn from soundscape research and citizen science, like soundwalks and a new mobile app – the Hush City app!

The “open source soundscapes” approach was initiated in the framework of the project: “Beyond the Noise: Open Source Soundscapes” (2016-2018), and we will continue to apply and deepen the methodology through new pilots and comparative studies, like the one in progress in Granada.

The Lab’s first two-year agenda revolves around 4 key-actions:

  1. Participation. We boost and retain citizen participation by implementing new features on the Hush City app and structuring a citizen science communication campaign.
  2. Analyses. We apply the soundscape approach and psychoacoustic analyses to further explore the “everyday quiet areas” identified by people in Berlin using the Hush City app and, eventually, to define a descriptor.
  3. Policy & best practices. Dedeveloping a comparative Berlin-New York case study so as to build a framework on EU and USA policies & best practices on noise abetment and soundscape planning.
  4. Planning. Designing the “Berlin Everyday Quiet Areas Master Plan” and developing city-scale planning guidelines and regulations in Berlin.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the Lab, methods and tools include: literature review, planning and policy document analyses, narrative interviews, soundwalks, the Hush City app, psychoacoustic analyses, and the urban acupuncture method.

We are proud to collaborate with academics, artists, practitioners, city makers, and community groups in its communication that noise has to be considered a health issue and the sonic urban environment needs to be a curated common in our society.

In the end, we expect to positivly impact different fields: science, policy, environment, economy and society at large.

YEAR

2018-on

CREDITS

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Lech Suwala (Technical University of Berlin)
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Arch. Antonella Radicchi (Technical University of Berlin)
Research Assistant (May 2018 – August 2019): B.Sc.  Charlotte Weber (Technical University of Berlin)
Project Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Dietrich Henckel (Technical University of Berlin), M.A. Jörg Kaptain (Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection).

Advisory Board (in alphabetical order):

  1. Dr. Arline Bronzaft, Professor Emerita, City University of New York
  2. Prof. Dr. Elena Cogato Lanza, École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne
  3. Prof. Dr. Marian Dörk, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
  4. Prof. Dr. Milena Droumeva, Simon Fraser University
  5. M. Ing. Michael Jäcker-Cüppers, ALD, Technical University of Berlin
  6. Prof. Dr. Muki Haklay, University College London
  7. Prof. Dr. Dirk Heinrichs, Technical University of Berlin
  8. Mo. Albert Mayr, Time Design Bureau
  9. Dr. Martin Memmel, QUERTEX
  10. Prof. Rosario Pavia, University of Pescara
  11. Prof. Dr. Brigitte Schulte-Fortkamp, Technical University of Berlin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The project received funding from the HEAD-Genuit Foundation [P-17/08-W].
The project received the no-profit institutional support of the Berlin Senate and it will be developed in accordance with the Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection.

SOUND & THE HEALTHY CITY

Marcus_IMG_0491+logo
Image & logo source: courtesy of Marcus Grant
Figure above: Images © Marcus Grant 2018

DESCRIPTION

Sound & the Healthy City is a special issue for the Journal Cities & Health, Routledge, that collects interdisciplinary contributions addressing the impact of the acoustic environment on health and well-being of people, through both soundscape and noise-based approaches.

Keywords: public space, healthy cities, sensory studies, urban design, planning, soundscape, noise, quiet areas, citizen science, ecology, placemaking, walking, mobile technology, sound art.

LEADING EDITORIAL 

  • Sound and the Healthy City by Antonella Radicchi, Pınar Cevikayak Yelmi, Andy Chung, Pamela Jordan, Sharon Stewart, Aggelos Tsaligopoulos, Lindsay McCunn, Marcus Grant.

CASE STUDY ARTICLES

CITY SHORT ARTICLES

VISUAL ESSAYS 

COMMENTARY AND DEBATE ARTICLES

REFLECTIVE PRAXIS – MAJOR ARTICLE

REFLECTIVE PRAXIS – THINK-PIECES

ORIGINAL EMPIRICAL SCHOLARSHIPS

EDITORIAL INFORMATION

  • Guest Lead Editor: Antonella Radicchi, Technical University of Berlin, Germany.
  • Guest Co-Editors (in alphabetical order): Pınar Cevikayak Yelmi, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey; Andy Chung, Macau Instituto de Acústica, Macau; Pamela Jordan, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands; Sharon Stewart, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Netherlands; Aggelos Tsaligopoulos, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece.
  • Cities & Health Co-editors (in alphabetical order): Lindsay McCunn, Vancouver Island University, Canada, Marcus Grant, Environmental Stewardship, Bristol, England.
  • Advisory Board (in alphabetical order): Arline Bronzaft, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of the City University of New York, New York; Peter Lercher, Ph.D., Professor of the University of Graz, Graz; Brigitte Schulte-Fortkamp, Ph.D., Professor of the Technical University of Berlin, Berlin; Barry Truax, Professor Emeritus of the Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.
  • Special issue partners (in alphabetical order): ALD, the working group on noise of the Acoustical Society of Germany; the Building Health Lab; The Quiet Coalition.

 

YEAR

2018 – 2020

DOWNLOAD THE PUBLISHER COMMUNICATION FLYER

BEYOND THE NOISE

DESCRIPTION

The soundscape is a huge musical composition, unfolding around us ceaselessly [where] we are simultaneously its audience, its performers and its composers.” (Schafer, 1977)

Every year 125 million Europeans are affected by noise pollution from traffic, which affects our health, quality of life and well-being. Noise pollution, indeed, represents a hazard to our physical and psychological health, it results in huge costs to our society and it has dramatic impact on biodiversity. To take action against noise pollution is therefore imperative.
In 2002 the Environmental Noise Directive was released to tackle this challenge; furthermore the directive identifies the protection of quiet areas as a valid measure to reduce noise pollution. However, how to properly identify quiet areas is still an open question at the European policy level, as indicated by the European Environment Agency in 2014, who invited scholars to pursue in-depth research in this field by experimenting with mixed approaches.
Through the development of the Beyond the Noise: Open Source Soundscapes project, a novel, participatory methodology to identify, evaluate and plan “everyday quiet areas” in cities was successfully validated. This methodology combines the soundscape approach, citizen science and the implementation of a novel mobile app: the Hush City app.
In the pilot study, conducted in Berlin, methods like semi-structured interviews, group soundwalks and the use of the Hush City app were applied to allow the participants to identify and evaluate “everyday quiet areas” on the neighborhood scale. The results were collected to compile the Reuterkiez Everyday Quiet Areas Map, which was used as a basis to define planning guidelines for the protection of these areas.
Beyond the Berlin pilot study, the Hush City app has been applied in other cities worldwide, confirming the interest of the general public, academic circles and stakeholders on the issue of urban quiet areas and the replicability of the methodology. Positive impact is expected on different fields such as science, politcs, environment, economy and public health.

YEAR

2016-2018

CREDITS

Principal Investigator: Dr. Arch. Antonella Radicchi (Technical University of Berlin).
Project Supervisors: Professor Dr. Dietrich Henckel (Technical University of Berlin), M.A. Jörg Kaptain (Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection).
Acoustic Advisors: Dipl. Ing. Michael Jäcker-Cüppers (ALD, Technical University of Berlin), Dipl. Ing. Manuel Frost (Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection), Dipl. Ing. Mattia Cobianchi (Bowers & Wilkins, UK).
The pilot study was conducted in collaboration with Rabea and Dominik from the Stadtteilbüro Reuterkiez!
The project received the no-profit istitutional support of the Berlin Senate and it was developed in accordance with the Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. 600209 (TU Berlin – IPODI).
The project received the no-profit institutional support of the Berlin Senate and it will be developed in accordance with the Berlin Senate, Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection.

LIGHT- & SOUNDSCAPES

Final-Posters_1 Final-Posters_2 Final-Posters_3

DESCRIPTION

Soundscapes and Lightscapes of the Urban Night. Berlin/Florence
Quietness and natural darkness are becoming ever-scarcer goods in cities, especially at night. Therefore, cities have been developing policies and strategies to reduce and mitigate the impact of light and noise pollution at night on human health, quality of life and wellbeing of citizens. Nevertheless, light and sound are rather more complex and ambivalent issues to deal with. Noise, as the negative side of sound, is definetely present in urban planning, as it is the case of light with its positive attributes, even if to a lesser extent. Vice versa, the positive side of sound is much less investigated, as are the negative aspects of artificial light. Moreover, sound and light have in common that they both have quantitative features – such as sound pressure levels and lighting levels – and qualitative ones, which are mediated by individual perception. However, the lack of methods to evaluate the impact on citizen perception in everyday life and the lack of integrated approaches to city pollution are still considered as demanding issues.

Against this background, the “Soundscapes and Lightscapes of the Night. Berlin/Florence” project aimed to fill this gap of methodological knowledge proposing a new experimental, integrated approach to the issues of light and noise pollution at night, through a comparative pilot study conducted in the cities of Berlin and Florence.
In the pilot study, we experimented with a mixed approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods. First, we made combined light- and soundwalks in the pilot study areas in Berlin and Florence – a combination, which had not yet been performed, as far as we know. Whereas soundwalks have a rather long history with a consistent body of literature and examples of practices, lightwalks are a much younger phenomenon. Therefore, theory and practice of soundwalking was taken as a reference for defining the new method of light- and soundwalk. Based on the experiences of these combined walks, in the pilot study areas four hot spots were identified where further qualitative analyses were undertaken, such as experimental measurements of sound and light levels, and surveys with passers-by in the street. An extensive analysis of the respective policies and political and legal frameworks in both cities were also conducted by the means of literature review and expert interviews.

The results show very remarkable differences between both cities and prove the great potential of an integrated analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, especially by taking citizen perception into account. These potentials warrant further research.

YEAR

2016-2017

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was developed in the Fall Semester  2016/2017 with and by the students from the Technical University of Berlin in the frame of the program: Masterprojekt Stadt- und Regionalplanung.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Dietrich Henckel (Technical University of Berlin), Dr. Arch. Antonella Radicchi (Technical University of Berlin).
Students: Elena Abt, Hanna Buntz, Jeffrey del Castillo, Rocío Gravino, Anna Loffing, Tim Lukas Lübben, Luisa Multer, Johannes Sichter, Luca Steffhan, Federico Trípoli, Christiane Wichtmann.
The project was awarded the TU Berlin Quality of the Students’ Work (2nd placement). Download the certificate here.

Cookie Law

INFORMATIVA COOKIES ai sensi dell’art. 13 del d.lgs. n. 196/2003 (c.d. codice privacy).

Antonella Radicchi Architetto informa, ai sensi dell’art. 13 del Codice Privacy ed in ottemperanza alle prescrizioni del Provvedimento 229/2014 del Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, che il presente sito utilizza le seguenti tipologie di cookie (ossia dei piccoli file di testo che i siti visitati inviano al tuo device, dove vengono poi memorizzati al fine di essere ritrasmessi agli stessi siti alla visita successiva):

Cookie tecnici

Quei cookie strettamente necessari per permettere:

  •  la navigazione e fruizione del sito web (permettendo, ad esempio, di realizzare un acquisto o autenticarsi per accedere ad aree riservate, cookie di navigazione o di sessione);
  • la raccolta di informazioni, in forma aggregata, sul numero degli utenti e su come questi visitano il sito stesso (cookie analytics);
  • la navigazione in funzione di una serie di criteri selezionati (ad esempio, la lingua, i prodotti selezionati per l’acquisto, cookie di funzionalità) al fine di migliorare il servizio reso allo stesso.
    Tali cookie sono installati direttamente da Antonella Radicchi Architetto e poiché non vengono utilizzati per scopi ulteriori rispetto a quelli funzionali sopra descritti la loro installazione non richiede il tuo consenso.

Cookie di profilazione di terze parti

Tali cookie sono installati da soggetti diversi da Antonella Radicchi Architetto e l’installazione degli stessi richiede il tuo consenso; in mancanza gli stessi non saranno installati.
Ti riportiamo quindi di seguito i link alle informative privacy delle terze parti dove potrai esprimere il tuo consenso all’installazione di tali cookie evidenziando che, laddove non effettuassi alcuna scelta e decidessi di proseguire comunque con la navigazione all’interno del presente sito web, acconsentirai all’uso di tali cookie.

Google

Twitter

LinkedIn

In aggiunta a quanto sopra esposto, potrai comunque impostare il tuo browser in maniera da rifiutare automaticamente la ricezione dei cookie attivando l’apposita opzione.
Il mancato utilizzo dei cookie tecnici, tuttavia, potrebbe comportare difficoltà nell’interazione con il presente sito.
Infine, Ti comunichiamo che, ai sensi dell’art. 7 del Codice Privacy, ti spettano determinati diritti, tra i quali quello di opporti al trattamento. A tal fine, pertanto, potrai modificare la tua scelta in qualsiasi momento accedendo nuovamente alla presente informativa.