Positioning the Theory on Sound Environment and Their Possibilities in Urban Design Practice

Banu Çiçek Tülü
This paper focuses on sound as an important element in urban design. Sound-related topics are getting attention from different fields, from human and social sciences, art, architecture, urban planning and many more. The working field of Sound Studies contains interdisciplinary research approaches as much as EDRA does. Bringing sound and its environmental impact to discussion would be a good match for the EDRA50. The review of recent topics shows that “sound environment and acoustic ecology” is an emergent topic in the context of sustainable future cities. Acoustic contamination is not only a question of noise pollution caused by traffic or industrial activities, but rather about understanding the auditory experiences and discovering the sonic territories in urban space. Contemporary urban design projects already left the tradition of designing only visually and started to focus on aspects like acoustic qualities and perception of users (or light, smell, etc.). In order to explore the sonic territories and sonic experiences of residents and the users, between June and December 2017, I conducted interviews with residents and users of Köpenicker Straße, Berlin. The aim was to point out that a very central, mixed used street, is considered as a transition area – even though it contains public spaces, meeting points, etc. – because of poor sonic qualities. After the field work, drawing on Guattari and Deleuze's concept of ‘refrain' and on Lefebvre's ‘rhythmanalysis', I state that sound environment should be rethink theoretically and sound should be considered as a relevant element in the spatial, functional and qualitative construction of urban spaces. Therefore, this paper proposes to work with different theories for including sound into urban design process. I am an Urban Designer who worked with different scales and interested with sustainable possibilities of future. My background and interest on sound, acoustic ecology and sound environment makes me a good candidate for EDRA. As a young researcher, who is at the end of her PhD, I believe my paper and the topic that I want to present will support the EDRA's foresighted and interdisciplinary approach.