SE Current Issues in Digital Architecture SS 2019
The “original” concept of soundscape was first
In which way do soundscapes
contribute to forming the
cultural identity?
A comparative study between the past
and present
Ana Maria Mihailescu
Vienna University of Technology, Faculty of
Architecture and Spatial Planning
Institute of Architectural Sciences, Research Unit
of Digital Architecture and Planning
KEYWORDS: Soundscape, The phonetic identity
of the city, Urban past, Technologization
ABSTRACT
Soundscape is a significant part of the urban
character and has proven to play a significant role
in the behavior, well-being and collective identity
of the citizens of a particular place. Over the course
of centuries, people have been relating to the way
their hometown sounded like, its phonetic
particularities comprising, amongst others, the
dialects spoken in a specific area, the sound of the
landscape and its fauna. The dawn of
industrialization produced a shift not only in the
urbanization process, but also in soundscapes, as
new machine-made sounds emerged. This leads us
to ask a legitimate question: has the digital and
information revolution, with its increased mobility
and globalization, led to an uniformization in the
way cities sound like? The aim of this paper is to
explore and compare the cultural identities of both
past and contemporaneity from a soundscape
perspective, starting from the analysis of several
case studies.
1. General definition of “soundscape”
introduced in the music and acoustic ecology
and then later expanded to other disciplines,
such as acoustics, architecture, psychology,
environmental health, sociology and urban
studies (Kang et al., 2016).
What is left to be done?
- Connecting “soundscape” with the
concept of “cultural identity”. The
above mentioned research areas “deal
with how humans experience the
environments and try to establish
relationships between the physical
world and the human response to it.” –
to be paraphrased (Kang et al., 2016)
2. Soundscapes of the past or how the
industrial revolution changed the
urban auditory texture
What is left to be done?
- Case study 1: Sound of water – “the
urban area that does not touch –
and is not touched by – a body of
water was, until the mid-twentieth
century, quite rare.” (Mark M.
Smith, 2013)
Sound of water was dominating the pre-
industrial soundscapes.
- Case study 2: Sonic Artefacts -
Reality Codes of Urbanity in Early
German Radio Documentary
(Carolyn Birdsall)
Radio revolves around urban culture and its
emergence dissolved spatial distance –
beginning of the globalized world?
- Case study 3: Sounds Familiar -
Intermediality and Remediation in
the Written, Sonic and Audiovisual
Narratives of Berlin Alexanderplatz
(Andreas Fickers, Jasper Aalbers,
 SE Current Issues in Digital Architecture SS 2019

Annelies Jacobs and Karin

Bijsterveld)

The leading character of Döblin’s novel Berlin

Alexanderplatz was overwhelmed, at his
release from prison, by the cacophonic sounds
of the city – machine-made noises perceived
as unpleasant, while natural sounds as pleasant
– support this theory with evidence from text
(Davies et al., Perception of soundscapes : an
interdisciplinary approach, 2012)

3. Soundscapes in the technological

present – case study (1-2 examples –
to be reviewed)

4. Pedestrianization or is the urban

present nostalgic about the sound of
the nature?

- Especially in Europe