Sounding Urban Places

Sounding Urban Places is an interdisciplinary European research project that develops forms for multimodal data collection and artistic creation in direct interaction with local populations with a focus on sound experiences in their home environments.

The project aims - on a practical as well as theoretical level - to enable an improved quality of life in residential areas and public (urban) places through a considered, and artistically inspired, design of the sonic environment. Through collaboration between an interdisciplinary team, ranging from sound artists to landscape architects, and from historians and ethnographers to researchers in audio technology, the project develops new insights and tools of relevance to urban design and regional development. Furthermore, the project aims to establish new collaborations with stakeholders and companies to translate this innovative approach into new projects with the development of sustainable and more attractive living environments, thereby contributing to the green transition.

The project seeks new knowledge and new innovative solutions to the challenges posed by unwanted sounds and noise in residential areas and workplaces in urban environments. With versatile methods for data collection, where direct collaboration with the local population is an integral part, and artistic experiments as two main innovative approaches, the project will provide new opportunities to create new and more attractive residential areas, at a time when the green transition requires labor in northern Sweden.

Sounding Urban Places consists of two linked sub-projects, one which is carried out in Kiruna with researchers from Luleå University of Technology, and one which is carried out in The Hague, in collaboration between researchers at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague and the University of Leiden. In both sub-projects, sound artists and local organizers and actors in the regional art world participate. Sounding Urban Places not only develops a cross-disciplinary research approach, but also seeks forms through which art and science can jointly contribute to the shaping of tomorrow's society.

The project is part of the European initiative "Building transformation capacity through arts and design: Unlocking the full potential for urban transitions" (BTC-ENUTC) and the Swedish part of the project is financed by the Swedish Energy Agency. The project leader is Stefan Östersjö, professor of musical performance and head of subject at the Piteå School of Music, at Luleå University of Technology.

In Kiruna, architect Jing Ma, historian Curt Persson, together with two professors of audio engineering, Jan Berg and Nyssim Lefford, collaborate with Östersjö and composer Anders Hultqvist (himself raised in Kiruna, but professor of composition in Gothenburg). During the year, the group has made field recordings in Kiruna and the surrounding area, and interviews with the city's residents. In these interviews, listening to recordings from characteristic locations in Kiruna has a central role. The project has an overall interest in how sound affects the experience of place, but with a particular focus on the experience of the transformations in Kiruna, in that the city center is being moved. An example of a sonic transformation is the clock tower, which was moved from the roof of the old town hall to the new town hall square:

• Sound file, the clock tower External link, opens in new window.

But the inner city is also characterized by the sound of demolition work in the old centre, and construction work around the new one.

• Sound file, construction work External link, opens in new window.

The project also works in workshop form with mapping the city's sound environments, by creating maps where attractive and disturbing sounds are marked out (a method called Participatory Geographic Information System). During 2025, Sounding Urban Places will create a number of different installations and other artistic projects and events in Kiruna, based on the stories and experiences collected through these collaborative methods. During 2025, the project collaborates with the NGO Kluster, and many other parties in Kiruna, in the creation and presentation of these artistic works.