The role of the urban soundscape in identification of Baghdad traditional city

Abstract

Sounds of the city reflect daily life activity, social interaction, and special features. The interaction between people and sounds strengthens the identity of a place in the city. Each city has its own characteristics and elements of sounds that distinguish it. There were many recent studies that define the city soundscape. The main research problem is the lack of knowledge about the role of the urban soundscape in the identification of Baghdad traditional city. This article studied the impact of urban soundscape and analyzed its characteristics and elements and its effect on identification of traditional Baghdad city, a questionnaire were conducted in 10 points about the patterns of sound sources and the presence of sounds, satisfaction, belonging, relaxing, spatial enclosure, annoying, specialty of the soundscape, the locate of position, and gradient of sounds, and a total of 30 people were interviewed in three main traditional streets in Al-Shawakaa traditional district. Measurements of sound pressure levels were also made for the total sounds to identify the most prominent types of sounds. The results showed that soundscape for the traditional cities had its indices that enhancing human awareness of soundscape and identification of the place.