Musical Cities

Listening to Urban Design and Planning

Sara Adhitya

ISBN: 9781911576518

Publication: September 17, 2018

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What is this?

Musical Cities represents an innovative approach to scholarly research and dissemination. A digital and interactive 'book', it explores the rhythms of our cities, and the role they play in our everyday urban lives, through the use of sound and music.

Sara Adhitya first discusses why we should listen to urban rhythms in order to design more liveable and sustainable cities, before demonstrating how we can do so through various acoustic communication techniques. Using audio-visual examples, Musical Cities takes the ‘listener’ on an interactive journey, revealing how sound and music can be used to represent, compose, perform and interact with the city. Through case studies of urban projects developed in Paris, Perth, Venice and London, Adhitya demonstrates how the power of music, and the practice of listening, can help us to compose more accessible, inclusive, engaging, enjoyable, and ultimately more sustainable cities.

Sara Adhitya is an urban designer and Research Associate with the Accessibility Research Group at UCL. Awarded a European Doctorate in the 'Quality of Design' of Architecture and Urban Planning by the University IUAV of Venice and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, she draws on her multidisciplinary background in environmental design, architecture, urbanism, music and sound design, in her interactive and multisensorial approach to urban design. She collaborates with a range of non-profit and governmental organizations around the world towards improving urban liveability and sustainability through participatory design and planning.

Introduction: Music and Cities

Part 1: Why do we need Musical Cities?
Chapter 1: The city as a rhythmic composition
Chapter 2: Listening to urban rhythm
Chapter 3: Why rhythm matters
Chapter 4: A rhythmic approach to urban design
Chapter 5: How can music help?
Part 1: Summary

Part 2: How to compose Musical Cities
Chapter 6: Representation
Chapter 7: Design
Chapter 8: Performance
Chapter 9: Implementation
Part 2: Summary

Chapter 10: Conclusions
Chapter 11: Epilogue: Rhythmic Urban Design Guidelines