Listening as Urban Strategy

This presentation frames listening as strategic urban intelligence: a practice-led, art-and-data-driven approach that connects situated experience (Sonic UX) to planning and design leverage (Sonic Habitat) using geolocated recordings, fieldwork, and GIS. Further developed during the ReSilence S+T+ARTS residency through research along the Chaussée d’Anvers (Brussels North), it articulates a method built around geocoded walks, field recording, and participatory feedback formats (sonic journal; audio essay). A collaboration with CERTH enabled the integration of GDPR-aware passive logging and AI-assisted indices (AER/USS) to analyse “sonic space shifts” in urban redevelopment contexts. The method foregrounds data ethics and positions itself as a complement to conventional noise monitoring—linking what is heard and felt in place to urban form, atmospheres, and policy/design questions, at the scale of the urban block and neighbourhood.