The phonic identity of the city urban soundscape for sustainable spaces

Abstract

The world is urbanizing rapidly, with more than half of the global population now living in cities. Improving urban environments for the well-being of the increasing number of urban citizens is becoming one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Although city planners customarily have visions of a “good urban environment,” those visions are usually limited to visual esthetics. The qualitative perspective of sound, which includes sonic diversity and acoustic ecology, is a neglected area of urban design.Today, many cities have effective legislation that is aimed at reducing the negative effects of noise. Even though many cities may be perceived as very noisy, there are a number of effective practices that can be rather quickly implemented. The soundscape approach, which considers environmental sound as a resource, can be most effective when applied in the urban planning and design process. This paper aimed to apply the soundscape approach in the planning of urban spaces’ redevelopment. It explores how the sound impact on the shaping of urban open spaces through international case studies. Then the paper suggests a strategy for including the urban soundscape in the planning process for one of the noisiest squares in Cairo, in order to create a quiet space amid the city’s bustle. In this context, the paper concludes that, the concept of soundscape is an established theme in the acoustics environment and that there is a need for soundscaping techniques that are specifically adapted to the outdoor environment.