In the latest instalment of our Meet the Researchers series, we speak to US-born Ireland-based artist Sven Anderson to learn more about his new MSCA-supported interdisciplinary project in urban design and spatial planning, bringing together the expertise of leading arts, engineering, sound and urban planning organisations and universities across the UK and Europe.
Congratulations Sven on being awarded an MSCA Individual Fellowship. Could you tell us a little about your project Sound-Frameworks?
Sound-Frameworks is a two-year project that explores the role of sound in urban design and spatial planning.
I am working in London with Theatrum Mundi - a non-profit organisation that expands the craft of city-making through collaboration with artists - to consider what tools interdisciplinary design teams can use to integrate considerations of sound within the design of the public realm.
This is not only about acoustics - it is about thinking through sound as a means of reimagining how we conceive of the public realm and the ways in which we occupy the city as a shared territory.
The project is structured around the production of three main outputs: a survey of how different professionals consider sonic experience within the context of city-making; a publication that critically examines emergent practice in this field; and an open-access design tool that can be leveraged by a range of communities and practitioners to introduce this mode of practice within the development of public spaces.
These resources draw from diverse perspectives, including urban sound art, architecture, spatial planning, environmental acoustics and sound studies.
How did you hear about the MSCA Individual Fellowship and what made you pursue this route?
I found out about the MSCA-IF from a colleague at the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GRADCAM) where I was working on my PhD at TU Dublin.
I chose to apply through the Society and Enterprise (SE) panel, which appealed to me as it provided a chance to work with a non-academic host to develop a project that could extend from my previous practice and research and unite a range of intersectoral partners. I felt that establishing the project in this way would enable it to have a wider impact.
What does practice-led research mean to you and what might this look like in terms of your project?
My interest in sound and urban space extends from my practice as an artist.
The artworks that I produce range from sound installations where people can use mobile phones to control sound compositions embedded within a public square - Continuous Drift in Dublin - to collaborations with architects in which sonic experience is central to the definition of architectural form - for instance the proposal that I developed for the UK Holocaust Memorial in collaboration with Heneghan Peng Architects.
Sven Anderson’s proposal for the UK Holocaust Memorial developed with Heneghan Peng Architects and Gustafson Porter + Bowman landscape architects in 2017. The proposed memorial drew attention to quiet recordings of Holocaust survivors’ spoken testimonies played back from transducers embedded in its stone walls and the active sounds of London filtering in from above. Image used with permission.
I also develop projects focused on encouraging dialogue around sound within different working contexts. For example, Dublin City Council commissioned me to develop an artist placement set within their organisation to explore the potential role of the ‘city acoustic planner and urban sound designer’.
Sound-Frameworks extends from these projects and experiences, and is itself a vehicle for this form of collaborative practice.
You are working with both academic and non-academic partners – what is the benefit of working with these organisations?
Sound-Frameworks accelerates intersectoral dialogue around the subjects it addresses.
Working with Theatrum-Mundi as a non-academic host is crucial, as they connect different forms of practice that are active in rethinking how artistic perspectives can impact city-making and urban design.
The partnership with the global engineering firm Arup (UK) extends this impulse into an applied domain where I can engage with practice in this field on a high level.
The partnership with the SME UrbanIdentity (CH) provides access to one of the leading practices that is addressing the relationship between sound and urban planning in Europe.
The partnership with Struer Kommune (DK) provides a chance to learn how a local municipality can leverage sonic perspectives as they establish their identity as ‘The City of Sound’.
The academic partnerships with the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford (UK) and the Sound Studies Lab at the University of Copenhagen (DK) provide support to actively contextualise this research within the growing fields of sonic urbanism and sound studies. Each of these partnerships is necessary for this project to fulfil its objectives.
Why is sound an important feature of urban design?
The urban sound environment is enigmatic.
On the one hand, it is something that we all experience, and that we all participate in forming.
On the other hand, urban design and planning practices rarely address this dimension of the city beyond considering it as a set of conditions that need to be ameliorated.
Bringing more attention to how sound connects not only with issues related to noise and acoustics but also to other dimensions of urban design enables designers to rethink public space from a new perspective.
As sound has a mobile capacity to transcend boundaries between various bodies and spaces, designing with sonic experience in mind brings to the surface new considerations of urban form which can revitalise how we conceive of the city.
Is the pandemic impacting or shaping the use of sound in urban design?
Since the outset of the pandemic, there have been a number of projects that draw attention to what can be heard as cities become more silent. For instance, when there is less traffic and fewer airplanes passing overhead, it becomes easier to attend to the sounds of nature.
At the same time, as more activities are beginning to take place outside, we witness new possibilities - as well as new forms of friction - that evolve as different communities rely on the public realm as a space in which they can safely congregate.
"As we anticipate more and more people moving into cities in the coming decades (bringing about further urban densification), understanding the role of sound and sonic experience within the form of the city will become increasingly important. Sound-Frameworks provides a foundation for research and practice that addresses these challenges.."
Sven Anderson is a current MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow on the Sound-Frameworks project.
Sound-Frameworks has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101032632.
Follow the project on Twitter @soundframeworks
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