Expériences sensibles et design urbain, un projet de recherche création : les productions sonores ordinaires des usagers en espace collectif urbain, le cas des traces sonores de pas

摘要

In this thesis, we explore the heuristic value of a user's footstep sounds in the urban public space. This intention is originally one of a common interest in user sound productions, their productive and active aspects within the daily experience of the city. To achieve this, the concept of sound trace has been developed in order to better understand, categorize and characterize these special and ordinary sounds produced by the user. Often ignored, remaining unconscious to the user, footstep sound traces are part of the sounds he produces, but are not studied in the fields related to urban design. We thus want to learn more about the information content of footstep sound traces, and especially about the potential of action that we believe are related to them. In summary, we want to know what a footstep tells us through the sound traces it makes. We thus state the hypothesis that footstep sound traces carries key informations on its producer, the other users as well as the space, all this throughout the sound experience “in process”. To capture and question this specific aspect of the footstep sound traces, we built a unique methodology that questions the user in real-time on his sound experience. Research design and research project gave us the framework, and the flexibility to develop an innovative tool specifically designed for our problematic : the sound device. The device has been installed on three sites : a terrace and the front of the ENSAG, a footbridge near the studio of a collective of artists and a footbridge located in a city park of Nantes. Between immersion and observations, interviews and video work, in connection with the field of sound art, our research crosses sound, space, and practice dimensions. The analyses reveal the behavior, conduct, micro-movements, gestures, and attitudes made ​​by the users. The results will be of interest in the fields of sound environment as well as architectural and urban design. Indeed, this research offers a better understanding of footstep sound traces roles in the composition of urban public spaces.