This lecture explores listening as a strategic urban intelligence in data analysis guiding urban planning and design, taking into account geolocated recordings linked to participatory research in the northern district of Brussels. We discuss the Field Score, participatory feedback, and how artistic research can strengthen urban design and policy teams.
Based on her research conducted along the Chaussée d’Anvers in Brussels North during an S+T+ARTS** residency, Caroline Claus proposes a sound planning approach that uses planning studies, fieldwork, geocoded walks, AI-assisted analysis (AER/USS)** and GIS mapping*** to make the affective variations linked to livability and urban transformation (‘Sonic Space Shifts’) visible.
Caroline Claus’s methodological approach links lived experience and data ethics (GDPR) to planning and design, as a potential extension to noisemonitoring. She uses situated listening as a strategic tool to consider sound as data and to connect sound experience, urban atmospheres, planning, design and urban strategies.
Prior to this conference, Brussels Environment will present the possibilities offered by ‘noisemonitoring’, a platform for objectively measuring and monitoring noise levels in Brussels. We will conclude with an open discussion on the introduction of AI into planning research and community outreach, community awareness, the role of the artist, and the possibilities of sound recording for understanding changes within the urban context.
- ReSilence S+T+ARTS Residency (Horizon Europe GA No. 101070278)
- Technical modules (GDPR logger on rooftops and AER/USS analysis) are developed by researchers at CERTH (Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece) and integrated as analysis tools, in accordance with defined parameters.
- GIS (Geographic Information System)
Credits: CDA Sonic Drift — Audio Essay, Field Score with geospatial and feedback workflow © Caroline Claus (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). GDPR passive logging software and AER/USS analysis © CERTH. Developed within ReSilence S+T+ARTS Residency, Horizon Europe (GA No. 101070278).
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Brussels-based sound artist and planning researcher Caroline Claus develops listening-based methods that connect urban listening experiences to challenges in planning and design. Her practice focuses on strengthening sonic habitats, where sound is fundamental to urban livability and quality of life. She has a background in Sociology (UGent) and Urbanism & Spatial Planning (EhB & VUB), and has obtained a PhD in Architecture (KU Leuven).