As some of you know Michiel is advising the municipalities of Rotterdam and Antwerpen how these cities can integrate sound into planning and design of public places in a positive way. For Rotterdam he collaborates with Marcel Cobussen, professor of auditory cultures at Leiden University. The first project of 7 in Rotterdam they advised upon in 2020 how to Integrate sound into planning was HOFPLEIN, a famous square in the city centre with a huge fountain in the middle. At the moment the fountain is not reachable by foot and hardly hearable because of a 4 lane traffic circuit surrounding it. The city of Rotterdam plans to change this and transform the square into a park.
Soundtrackcity also conducted guided listening walks. During one at Hofplein, participants included people who live close to the square, entrepreneurs, maintenance workers and a bicycle courier who regularly cycles through. The youngest contributor was 12, and the oldest 82. Huijsman asked them what sounds they could hear. Answers were specific, precise: “A continuous thump”; “bells ringing unpleasantly, without direction”; “the clock tower at City Hall and a bird in the distance”; “footsteps”; “the noise of clothing, when the traffic stops.”
Read the longread in Noema where Michiel tells what it’s all about!
noemamag.com/dialing-back-the-noise-in-the-city-of-din/
