Musical Smart City: Perspectives on Ubiquitous Sonification

Abstract

Smart cities are urban areas with sensor networks that collect data used towards efficient management. As a source of ubiquitous data, smart city initiatives present opportunities to enhance inhabitants' urban awareness. However, making sense of smart city data is challenging and there is a gap between available data and end-user applications. Sonification emerges as a promising method for the interpretation of smart city data and the production of novel musical experiences. In this paper, we first present the smart city paradigm. We then cover the topics of ubiquitous and mobile music, followed by an overview of sonification research. Finally, we propose an approach entitled ubiquitous sonification and present the initial design of a speculative use case for musical smart city systems, leveraging user and urban data to inform behaviour.