Listening to the city

摘要

My interest in the urban soundscape dates from 1966 to 1967 when I wrote my Master of City Planning thesis at MIT on The Sonic Environment of Cities'. I wanted to go beyond the visual image of the city to work on some aspect of city sense that had not received attention. The visual sense is so dominant, yet the other senses play a significant role in our experience of places. I had a strong interest in environmental psychology, how environments are perceived, interpreted, and valued. While developing my thesis with Kevin Lynch I had thought of exploring the tactile city or the olfactory city, but found city sounds to be more compelling and perhaps more researchable. Fortunately, my apartment atop Boston's Beacon Hill was a wonderful place to listen to the city. With windows facing four directions, 'sound views' came from near and far: fog horns from the Bay, clanging rail yards from North Station, gulls on the rooftops, footsteps and voices on the narrow brick street below, and church bells and clock chimes from surrounding neighbourhoods.