Sound, Density, and the Environment

Case Studies from the Bernese Alps, Brazil’s Minas Gerais, and Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pu Quarter

The project explores different soundscapes from a global perspective to analyze their sonic dimensions, predominant influence lines (of environmental sounds, technological soundscapes, human culture, music making and performance), and the resulting human interaction with the related environment. Employing a cluster of methods ranging from ethnographic fieldwork to sound recordings, qualitative interviews, music and text analysis, the project focuses on three extreme environments: The high Alpine region of the Bernese Oberland, the remote rural areas of Brazil's northern Minas Gerais, and Sai Ying Pun, a highly dense urban zone of Hong Kong. The project not only encourages a critical reflection on the prevailing dichotomies of urban, rural, and natural soundscapes. By addressing issues of acoustic ecology it also intends to develop solution strategies for the contrasting interests of the different interest groups (e.g. local population, tourist groups, politics).

The project is structured along three sub-projects, researching different areas:

• The Violence of Tourism and Interacting Sound Dimensions in a Vertical Landscape (Bernese Oberland), research conducted by Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers 
• Dwellings of Sound: Auditory Knowledge and Sonic Symbolism amongst the Geraizeiros of Central Brazil, Dissertation project of Victor de Souza Soares 
• Soundscape of Density: Architecture, Space and Sound in Sai Ying Pun – Dissertation project of Andrin Uetz

This project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). It started in April 2016 and will last for three years. 

Website of the research project: https://sound-density-environment.com/