13 Street, Public Squares, Urban Neighbourhood

Abstract

On a hectic morning in a busy street, pedestrians are walking by without looking at one another. They may listen to the footsteps of others, but such listening implies recognition of the social other’s existence and encourages public confrontation through eye contact. Such private contact within public spaces, whether streets, squares, parks or public gardens, counteracts the rhythm that city life demands. Many people are absorbed by the acute socio-political aura that urban sites underscore. Sounds of heavy traffic, electrical machinery and electronic devices, directly human-made sounds such as rustling clothes, a cough, discernible footsteps, a car horn being used, a shout carved out from the background – all of these sounds will eventually dissolve into the city’s monotone, leaving no trace. Little memory of their occurrence will remain. Everyday urban sounds are indifferent; they alienate by absorbing everything into one great cacophony. City inhabitants may endeavour to survive this sonic onslaught by existing on its margins, immersing themselves in their mediated mobile phone world. A personalised city is an augmented environment of soliloquy that outlines selfhood....