El significado del medio ambiente sonoro en el entorno urbano

Abstract

Though sound is an essential part of the meaning and experience of the different places where people live their lives, it is nonetheless the neglected variable in town planning and design policies. The result is that cities expand with no thought for their urban soundscapes. This situation may have arisen because sound environment is currently assimilated to noise and pollution, and the level of sound taken as the main factor determining its value, with no or little regard for the subjective aspects involved in its perception and appreciation. Taking this as its starting point, the present paper seeks to demonstrate, in the light of the results of a qualitative interdisciplinary study on the sound environment of several cities, that sound is something more than noise, and can serve as an important means of communication and relationship with the environment. likewise, it shows how the criteria used to evaluate sound in a given space depend not only on its level but also, and even more importantly, on the information it conveys, the context in which it is perceived and the cultural and social significance that people themselves ascribe to it.