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City Sonic Ecology: Urban Soundscapes of Bern, Ljubljana, and Belgrade

1 SUMMARY

This joint project of the cities of Berne, Ljubljana, and Belgrade explores the phenomenon of the urban soundscape

and its potential and role in shaping the affective economies (Ahmed 2004). Drawing on the connection of acoustic

ecology with affect studies (cf. Goodman 2010; Kanngieser 2012), the project will interrelate approaches of urban

ethnomusicology, soundscape research, and affective theory to investigate with the ways people living in the city

invest their hearing capacities in the various kinds of identity building and politics of belonging. Also taking factors

like architecture, urban planning, and space representations into consideration, this project particularly focuses on

dichotomies in urban soundscapes, such as invisible vs. symbolic, private vs. public, and noise vs. music by focusing

on three broader themes:

1) Religious city soundscapes (church bells, mosques, street religious performances).

2) Urban soundscapes as places of political participation.

3) Individual city soundscapes – mobile music, technology and public space.

Based on an analysis of the central keynote sounds and elements of each investigated city, this project hereby

investigates how individuals embrace or reject particular aspects of urban soundscape. How do individuals create

communities of shared affect through sound? How do these city soundscapes function as part of the broader

landscape? The general aim is thus to uncover culturally determined values, unnoticed sounds, and specific urban

spaces that are symbolized through sound. Yet the project also intends to analyze how people create their own urban

soundscapes – in contrast to the broader urban soundscape – at present. The project will be conducted by using

clusters of methods:

1) Field work grounded on ethnographic documentation on the sound topography of the city;

2) a dynamic cartographic approach of audiowalk, in which the collected archival, textual, visual, musical and

sonic data is combined within an Interactive Digital Environment;

3) a musicological analyses of the collected data and its critical deliberation.

This approach includes also a researcher triangulation, referring to the involvement of more than one researcher

from more than one of the partner institutions in the field to gather and interpret data from a different perspective.

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2 RESEARCH PLAN

This project explores the phenomenon of urban soundscape in order to investigate its potential and its role in

shaping the so-called “affective economies”, regulating the distribution of affects in space, through which the

specific communities of shared emotions and attitudes are being formed (Ahmed 2004). Focusing on the three cities

of Bern, Ljubljana, and Belgrade, City Sonic Ecology will trace some of the dichotomies in urban soundscapes such

as invisible vs. symbolic, private vs. public, noise vs. music. Sonic events that shape the urban soundscapes, such as

church bell ringing, muezzin calls, sounds of the street performers, are variously considered as unwanted noise or

appreciated as music. Concurrently, some of the sounds remain unnoticed, being habituated in our everyday

experience of the urban spaces, while others can be recognized as symbols of specific urban centres. Finally, given

the technological-digital development, many people create their own city soundscapes today by using portable

media devices, which often contrast the sounds emitted in the city transport, cafés, or shopping malls. Based on an

analysis of the central keynote sounds (Schafer 1977) elements of each investigated city, this project’s goal is to

investigate how individuals embrace or reject specific aspects of the urban soundscape, hereby creating communities

of shared affect. We will particularly pay attention to the city soundscape as part of the broader landscape,

interacting with elements, such as architecture, urban planning, and spatial concepts and representations. The

sensorial porosity between outdoor and indoor has let us to question the classical dichotomy between private and

public spaces. The project will particularly address three main themes:

1) Religious city soundscapes (e.g. church bells, muezzin calls, street religious performances)

Religions, manifested through (public) sound often arouse strong responses in urban sonic environments and in the

context of society, religion and politics, resonate in a variety of assemblages. The religious soundscapes concern a

large community of people as nearly everyone is in contact with these sounds in an everyday context (e.g. church

bells). The relation of people towards religious sounds is most evident in situations that have triggered heated public

responses of individuals and the wider community, thus often reflecting the secular opposition against the sacred.

The political control over the (public) sound can thus also be understood as a control of the symbolic order and

rhythm of the inhabitants and the environment in which they live. The basic focus of this research theme will be on

church bell ringing, muezzin’s calls, street religious performances and their impact on society and the environment,

and conversely, the effect of individuals, society and politics on their sonority. Both aspects are closely linked, since

human intervention in sonority is the consequence of the perception of sonority. Further central issues are the

relationship, attitude, the physical responses and behavioral characteristics of those living in the cities.

2) Urban soundscapes as places of political participation

Giving voice to the public space is one of the possible ways offered by the sociocultural context to participate in a

global way of linking habitat spaces with the assertion of social membership. We will focus on sound actions in

public spaces – squares, streets, and parks –as the art of doing music. These reflect the co-creation of sound and

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space, and the potential they have for an affective politics in the sense of agency. Our particular targets will be main

city squares, which, through various kinds of protests, have become spaces of shaping new models of political

participation, in the last few years.

3) Individual city soundscapes – mobile music, technology and public space

The terrain for the exploration is the internal experience of the individual in the city and uses sound, memory and

imagination to create a deep connection to place. For the city inhabitants, being sonic becomes integrated into the

strategies adopted for living the street. We will pay attention to individual strategies aimed to modify the experience

of the urban soundscape, both intentionally and non-intentionally. Do citizens embrace the dominant soundscape or

do they try to subvert it? Which technologies do they use, and does the technology, in a Latourian sense (cf. Latour

2005), influence their choices? Finally, we will pay attention to projects that label themselves as ‘artistic’, offering

personal (artistic) interpretations of particular neighbourhoods’ soundscapes. Throughout this investigation, we will

particularly focus on the ways that notions of ‘public’ and ’private’ collide in the dynamics of the city soundscapes.

As the subsequent sound-sketches indicate, these aspects are also reflected in various degrees within the three

investigated cities – also depending on the broader physical frameworks.

Bern

The characteristic keynote sound of Swizerland’s federal capital Bern (137,937 inhabitants; appr. 338,000 in the

larger agglomeration) is shaped by an intersection of specific physical-geographical and historical layers. Generally

speaking, Bern is located on a peninsula in the hilly Aare valley with 3-4 larger distinct sound areas that also reflect

the different height levels of the region: As specifically apparent at the waterfalls of the dammed river at the

Schwellenmätteli, the lower Aare regions are strongly shaped by the keynote sound of the river. The Old Town with

its surrounding urban sound mixture is located on the middle level, while the higher areas – that can be further

divided into other urban surrounding parts and the hills like the Gurten – not only convey a much more distanced

keynote of the inner city, but also include a keynote that is very unusual for a capital city: Animal sounds and bells

of various nearby farming houses. Particularly the Old Town also reveals the impact of architectural-historical sound

layers: UNSECO world heritage site since 1983, Bern’s Old Town still conveys older historical sound impressions:

Not only is this area shaped by the ringing bells and the rooster crowing of the former medieval gate tower

Zytglogge, also the numerous fountainheads, cobbled stone streets, and wooden stairways shape the soundscape of

Old Town, that however also features characteristic modern sounds like the beeping of the No.12 bus. Yet,

particularly the ringing of the church bells of the Münster cathedral and other significant Christian churches still

shape the urban keynote, also marking specific hours (e.g. 8 p.m.) and days (e.g. through the Sunday ringing).

However, within this distinct keynote one will also discover the “House of Religions.” Currently still located at one

of the higher urban layers, within the noisy traffic of the Laubeggstrasse, one can often hear the ringing sounds of a

Hindu procession next to the Rosengarten that overlooks the Old Town. Yet, the audible presence of non-Christian

cultures is also set against the current so-called Minaret Controversy, a political debate centered on the banning of

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the construction of minaret towers in Switzerland that led to a referendum that was accepted by 57.5% of the Swiss

voters in 2009: As in the case of the House of Religions, non–Christian sounds are more of an inward quality –

restricted to the closer environment of a building and private or secluded spheres. How far does this specific

auditory environment also reflect the situation of a country that is shaped by a migration rate of 22.4% (2012)? What

does this religious soundscape reveal about deeper subconscious cultural resentments and fears – and also processes

of integration?

As the Federal Capital of Switzerland Bern also features open public spaces like the Bundeshausplatz in front of the

Bundeshaus (the central governmental building). However, contrary to other capitals, the space is highly open:

While it is indeed the central location of the – often musically framed – reception ceremonies of international

political guests, the everyday sounds of the Bundeshausplatz is likewise strongly shaped by the sounds of playing

children within the splashing waterspout fountain in the summer, the weekly farmer’s market that is contrasted by

staged public events of modern radio stations, insurance companies – and demonstrations. Yet also other places like

the Lauben promenades locate a vast range of street musicians – and are the place for raves and other sound events

that are intertwined with issues of public agencies. This became strongly apparent during the escalation of the “Tanz

Dich frei” [“Free yourself through dancing”] event in which a musically announced event turned into a violent

situation in May 2013. Which spaces are used for public agency – and how?

While this above-sketched framework also reflects physically-oriented mapping processes, the inhabitants of the city

also share emotional-musical references to various places of Bern as an urban space – be it the ringing of the

cowbells at the fringes of the city, the sound of the river Aare – or specific individual sounds and concert

experiences, for instance. This part of the project will, first of all, develop a set of different soundmaps of the central

city – hereby localizing distinct – physical – sound spots and the different keynote sounds of the place. This also

includes a historical layer, the annual changes of specific places like the Bundesplatz, as well as individual (human)

attachments and references to the place. Thus developing a range of different (and overlaying forms) of urban

soundmaps, this research project will hereby explore the possibilities of these instruments to highlight deeper social

developments in Bern. This also in comparison to the similarly-sized Ljubljana and in parallel analysis to Belgrade,

as this might also highlight interconnect issues of migration.

Ljubljana

Capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana (278.638 inhabitants) is a smaller city, situated in the Ljubljana basin. Spatially it

looks like formed in concentric circles: in the center there are the s.c. Old Ljubljana and the newer central part of the

city. This has resulted in an architectural mixture of old and new buildings, shopping malls and a big park area

named Tivoli Park. Around the city center there is a circle mostly consisting of apartment buildings, while the last

circle mainly consists of family houses, fields, and some farms. Each of these parts has specific sound

characteristics, e.g. more human suggestive sounds are in the forefront of the first two circles, while natural sounds

dominate the final circle. With a new policy from 2009, traffic was banned from Old Ljubljana, which has

contributed to a completely new acoustic image of the city: Sounds of people walking, chatting, street music, bell

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ringing, bicycle bells, shouts of newspaper sellers or dealers in the market etc. come to the fore. The Old Ljubljana

is located along Ljubljanica river, a quiet river, lately revived by the boat tourism, sound characterized by ‘boat

music’. However, the newer central parts remain burdened with sounds of traffic and the frequency of use of car

horns and bicycle bells, which indicate the driving culture of the citizens and Ljubljana’s visitors. Similar sounds are

characteristic of the area of apartment buildings, which are further mixed with the sounds of silence in parks within

the settlements or screaming children on the playground or in front of schools.

In a temporal way we can say that we have an everyday constant Hi-Fi sound layer (cf. Schafer 1977) of nature

(birds, rivers, wind), plus the sounds of the bell ringing, traffic (that contributes to a Lo-Fi sound, ibid.), and sound

signals and clusters of, for instance, people that occur occasionally, like street music or the sounds of the late civil

unrests (shouts, singing, sounds of ratchets and whistles). As Schafer (1977) observed, this also changes with the

seasonal time and weather. Ljubljana’s soundscape reflects the rhythm of the city or the people living in it or visiting

it: For example, the time of awakening is indicated by the first car or a bus, dog barking, ringing of church bells etc.

It also represents the political history of the place, such as Saturday’s cacophony ringing of church bells and howl of

sirens fire stations at noon (the howling siren substituted urban bell ringing after the World War 2) or the European

anthem at the Town Hall that is played on soundtrack at noon every day since the acceptance of Slovenia to the

European Union. It is performed on the carillon, which is the north European system of bell ringing that is unusual

to Slovenian soundscape. The hills in and around Ljubljana are distinctive for their bell ringing, especially the half

noon ringing of the Šmarna gora bell, which reminds people of averting a Turkish attack.

The identification of the sound signals and keynotes of each of these topics and areas will reveal how the sounds are

determining or creating the place and time, what kind of public sound people co-create, which sounds are allowed,

which not, which are accepted as the part of the undisturbing soundscape, which are a matter of a public debate, and

which are the sounds that people accepted through time. The perception of noise versus music will be revealed

through the reaction of people to the distinctive sounds such as dog barking, siren howls, bell ringing or the

incorporation of the muezzin’s call in Ljubljana soundscape as a part of the planned building of a first mosque in

Ljubljana. How does this sonic debate differ from Bern, for instance? Within the project, we will develop a range of

different (and overlaying forms) of urban soundmaps of Ljubljana.

Belgrade

With a population of 1.65 million people living within its administrative limits, and over 1.2 million inhabiting its

urban areas, Belgrade is the largest city in the Western Balkans and the capital city of the Republic of Serbia. During

the last two centuries, the development of Belgrade has often been unregulated, intermittent and uneven, resulting in

a metropolis which has evolved as a veritable conglomerate of different urban characters and soundscapes. A

particularly important issue in Belgrade has been the handling of its intricate historical legacy, which often provokes

political controversies and emotional outbursts. This is both visible and audible in its landscape. Belgrade has been a

capital city since 1841, although in at least seven different states, and has provided a stage for three war destructions

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which have scared and modified its urban landscape. This thus reflects a completely different sonic history in

comparison to Bern and Ljubljana. While its citizens like to conceptualize their city as a crossroad of the Balkans,

different interpretations of Belgrade’s past and various visions of its future are conflicting in the urban soundscape

and on the level of the everyday experience, both through individual agencies and through agencies of the political

and religious institutions.

The Ottoman and Islamic legacy of the city has been marginalized and silenced for at least a century and a half,

since the Serbian uprisings (1804–1815) and the final expulsion of the Ottoman’s garrisons from the Belgrade

fortress (1867). Formerly a city of myriad of mosques (reportedly as many as 275), the only one remaining today is

the Bajrakli Mosque, hidden in the narrow streets of central neighbourhood of Dorćol, and practically invisible and

inaudible outside of its immediate surroundings. Under-protected by the police, it has been attacked and burned

down by the rioters in the 2004, during the protests held to condemn the violence against Serbs in Kosovo, and has

only recently been restored. Former Belgrade’s citadel and the fortress –the upper and the lower town of the

Ottoman Belgrade, which was held by the Ottomans until 1867 – has never become a part of modern Belgrade’s

urban hub, but was instead converted into the park Kalemegdan, a green area in the centre of the city. It is a place of

everyday leisure, but also of many music events, including concerts and festivals in the open, as well as stage for

Belgrade’s bursting clubbing scene.

The socialist period has left the legacy of monumental modernist architecture and open spaces celebrating the novel

social order which was purportedly installed with the Communist Party’s triumph in the National Liberation War

during the Second World War. However, since the 1990s, these public spaces are de-secularized and new Orthodox

churches are being built which directly influence the Belgrade’s soundscape. Apart from the array of vast churches

being built in Novi Beograd – a municipality constructed after the Second World War as the flagship of socialist

urban revolution – the most prominent example of this process is the Saint Sava Plateaux in the old Belgrade

municipality of Vračar. The Plateaux – a busy green area on the top of Vračar Hill – had been dominated by the

National Library of Serbia, built in the Socialist Era in 1973. However, this domination has been challenged with the

construction of Saint Sava Temple, one the world’s largest Orthodox churches, during the 1990s and 2000s.

Importantly, the temple features a special set of custom-made bells which can also work as carillon, and their noon

chiming is the single loudest everyday feature of Belgrade soundscape, audible at least in the whole of Vračar. Since

their installation, the bells have provoked reaction from both believers and non-believers, and the sense of

amazement is apparent in various videos uploaded on the YouTube.

The squares and streets of Belgrade have been the places of various social unrest and rallies during the 1990s, which

culminated in 2000 in the overturn of Milošević’s regime, in which the role of sound and music has been very

important. Belgrade remains a place of various political protests, often of conflicting character – from the flashmobs

and rallies aimed to fight for minorities and social rights to nationalistic protests which try to recapture and remap

the city. Although these different political intentions all sparkle the memories of the 1990s, their methods of

reclaiming the Belgrade soundscape are very different in nature and the applied technologies. Soundscapes of the

nostalgic and utopian Belgrade are also present in the very city centre. This sub-project we will focus on two places

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where they remain most visible in the present: Skadarlija and Savamala. Skadarlija, a common name for Skadarska

Street, is famous for the seemingly endless array of its ‘traditional’ restaurants – kafanas – featuring ‘traditional’

urban live music performances. The genre which is sought for in Skadarlija is ‘starogradska muzika’ (“old city

music”), representing the utopian image of the “old city bohemian atmosphere”. It can be heard both in the taverns

and on the streets, performed by the wandering ensembles, attracting both tourist and local populations. On the other

side of central Belgrade lies Savamala, purportedly the oldest Belgrade urban zone, now de-gentrified and

endangered by the heavy traffic which is the dominant feature of its soundscape. In the last years it has become the

neighborhood of choice for young artist and alternative clubbing scene. Projects such as Slučaj Savamala (Savamala

case, http://www.savamala.rs/) seek to challenge the notoriety of the neighbourhood and to transform the

soundscape of this area though artistic and installations, as well as local micro radio broadcasts.

Investigating the Belgrade soundscape, we will particularly explore the dichotomies between unwanted (noise) and

appreciated sounds, between marginalized and dominant soundscapes. We will explore what are the sounds to which

people react and which put them into motion, and which one pass unnoticed as background noise. We will

investigate how different perceptions of the urban soundscape and conflicting interpretations of what is unwanted

and what is embraced result in forming different affective communities which are contesting their rights over the

public space – findings that will further compared with related observations in Bern and Ljubljana.

2.1 CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH IN THE FIELD

Soundscape studies, or acoustic ecology, are still a relatively novel interdisciplinary field of studies which

concentrates on the issues of sonic relationships between people and their environment. Although it often appears

heterogeneous, certain treads run across this multifaceted discipline, endeavouring to radically change our paradigm

of thinking about the sound and music. Acoustic ecology usually criticizes discourse- and image-centred trends in

the Cultural Studies, arguing for the importance of the sound in the processes of cultural mediation with the

environment. It further challenges the concept of ‘art’, even when discussing artistic practices such as soundart, and

questions the border between ‘noise’ and ‘music’ which appears to be artificial in the everyday life (cf Zittoun

2012). Finally, focusing on the micro case studies and the current social phenomena, acoustic ecology tries to evade

grand narratives and to draw conclusions on the local scale, particularly communicating with issues of urbanism.

One of the key proponents of the soundscape studies since 1970s has been R. Murray Schafer (recent publications

including Schafer 1993). His work has set the discipline as one which encompasses scholarship, as well as artistic

projects and documentary works (such as the pioneering World Soundscape Project, but also Steven Feld’s (1982)

groundbreaking studies). We will particularly refer to specific contemporary treads in acoustic ecology which

communicate with other interdisciplinary fields, such as memory studies, soundart studies, urban geography, conflict

studies and theory of affect.

One of the main objectives of the soundscape studies has been to challenge the predominant “eye culture”

(Wrightson 2000) or the eye-centred approach to society and to bring forward the importance of the sound in the

shared social spaces as a vehicle for forging communities and social relationships. The sound has been awarded the

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same importance as the landscape in experiencing the place and in constructing “the feeling of ‘home’” (ibid.).

Arguing for all-pervasiveness of the sound and soundscape, authors have been especially keen to distinguish

between ‘hearing’ a passive process, or “listening as such”, and ‘listening’ (“listening to something”, Böhme 2000),

as an conscious activity, and to award special importance to the former , as a ubiquitous non-voluntary activity

which underpins our presence in the (urban) surroundings .Importantly, soundscapes studies brought in the

“ecological reasoning” into sound studies, investigating sound not primarily as a musical phenomenon, but as a part

of humane environment; in this manner, it has been possible to challenge the dichotomy between nature and society

in production of soundscapes, and to question the teleological approaches to sound (cf Oddie 2011). In recent years

acoustic ecology has become more concerned with the how soundscape can act as mnemonic technology. Concepts

such as sonic memory material (Voegelin 2006) and auditory nostalgia (Bijsterveld and Van Dijck 2009) strive to

explain how specific sounds trigger the cultural memory, looking into personal choices of music listening,

investigating sounds in situ – in their urban surrounding, as well as investigating soundscape artistic practices.

The question of soundscape as an artistic medium, and the (inter)relationship between soundscape and sound art

represents one of the key topics of the contemporary literature devoted to the artistic usage of sound. This has been

the subject of musicological considerations (Demers 2010), as well as discourses of art history, visual arts,

architecture (Licht 2007; LaBellle 2006), philosophy and aesthetics (Voegelin 2010; Kim-Cohen 2009), and noise

and new media aesthetic (Hegarty 2010). Authors from these perspectives have also emphasized the importance of

questioning the borders between noise and music, and between art and everyday experience, in trying to capture

sound(art) not as a petrified museum exhibit, but as a lived aesthetic experience. In the field of conflict studies the

question of sound and soundscape is becoming more important as an arena where cultural discourses fight for

dominance and as a mechanism for imposing political and territorial control. Steve Goodman (2010) has been

particularly successful in showing how the sonic forces are being used in order to achieve crowd control and to

affect populations. This is an important issue in current research projects, such as the project Antagonistic Tolerance

led by Robert M. Hayden, where the sound is being recognized as one of the markers of (religious) groups’

dominance in certain urban areas (Hayden and Walker 2013).

The connection of acoustic ecology with affect studies (cf. Goodman 2010; Kanngieser 2012) is of particular

importance, as both disciplines are concerned with overriding the paradigm of cultural studies which is centred on

discourse, semiotics and representation in explaining the production of social meaning in the society. Both acoustic

ecology with affect studies have reached out of the box in order to explain how people interact with their

environment and how they create ecologies of shared affect through non-representational means. Investigating

sounds-sharing and soundscapes remains a fruitful avenue in these explorations, particularly referring to issues of

political protests (cf. Tremblay 2012; Waitt et al. 2013). Urban geography has nurtured a pronounced interest

towards the study of sound, not least sparkled with the recent translation of Henri Lefebvre Rhythmanalysis (2004),

where the French sociologist claimed that every city has its own rhythm, a audible cachet imprinted in its

soundscape (cf. Simpson 2008; Fraser 2011). Recently, Solène Marry (2011) has argued in favour of the importance

of soundscapes and sonic perception in creating mind-maps of urban environments. Besides engaging in scholarly

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studies, an array of experts has tried to create soundmaps and record soundscapes of various urban areas. These

projects include Limerick Soundscapes (http://limericksounds.wordpress.com), Sounds of Europe

(http://www.soundsofeurope.eu/), Soundscapes of Rostock (http://www.soundscapesrostock.de), etc. The idea of

these projects has been to record and preserve the urban soundscapes, but also to politically intervene and interact

with the local communities.

2.2 PAST PERFORMANCE AND PUBLICATIONS IN THIS PROJECT FIELD (MAIN APPLICANTS)

Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers has been conducting soundscape research since 2010 when she conducted a seminar

entitled “Soundscapes: Wahrnehmung, Komposition und Dokumentation von Klanglandschaften” at the University

of Bern. In this seminar, the students conducted fieldwork projects on the soundscape of the city of Bern. The

material is currently revised for a website presentation. Aspects of this research of been reflected in various articles

(see below), yet also in music pedagogical articles, radio interviews, public publications like (with T. Beyer):

„Soundscapes in der Schweiz“ (2013).

Sweers, Britta. „Environmental Perception and Activism through Performance: Alpine Songs and Sound Impressions.” In: Kreutziger-Herr, Annette und Britta Sweers (eds.) Climate Change, Music and the North. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. (in press).

Sweers, Britta. „Wie ein mehrdimensionales, lebendiges Bild…“: Beispiele musikalischer Raum- und Zeitwahrnehmung aus ethnomusikologischer Perspektive“. In: Möller, Hartmut and Martin Schröder (eds.) Musik – Kultur – Wissenschaft (Rostocker Studien zur Musikwissenschaft und Musikpädagogik) Vol. 1. Essen: Die Blaue Eule, 2011. 107-132.

Sweers, Britta (with Sarah Ross) “A Blank Field of Musical Traditions? (Re-)Constructing Ethnomusicology in Contemporary Switzerland. In: Richter, Pál: Musical Traditions: Discovery, Inquiry, Interpretation, and Application. Budapest: HAS Research Centre for the Humanities, 2012. 116-134.

Sweers, Britta (with Theresa Beyer): „Soundscapes in der Schweiz.“ Programmheft Festival Alpentöne 2013.

Dr. Ana Hofman’s research is placed in the intersection between music and sound studies and post-socialist studies.

Her research projects are related to the spatial dimension of music performance with the focus on conflict and border

areas (particularly in the Central and Southeastern Europe). The topic of soundscape(s) appears as a key concept in

her research of a co-creation of sound and space, and its potential they have for an affective politics in urban

environments. Dr. Hofman put such as analyses in the specific context of Central and Eastern European “transitional

societies” in order to demonstrate the ways social, aural, and spatio-temporality are interconnected and transformed

into the realm of communion and social convergence. Dr. Hofman has been involved in many international projects

and is a leader of the national team within EP7 project GARCIA, focused on the female researchers in academia in

Eastern European societies. Grounded in a highly multidisciplinary background, the expertise of Dr. Hofman will

facilitate a strong interconnection among the proposed topics (religious, political and personal city soundscapes) and

particularly their points of overlapping. This will be done through the comparative perspective on three societies:

»west European«, »new-European« and the »western Balkans«, which will enable a focus on complex network of

trajectories between various stages of »cities in transition«: post-industrial, post-socialist, post-conflict.

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Hofman, Ana, “Sounding transition: musical practices as everyday experience in post-socialist Serbia.” In: First symposium of ICTM Study group for music and dance in Southeastern Europe : 4-8 september 2008, Struga R. Macedonia, Velika Stoykova Serafimovska (ed.), Skopje: Macedonian Composers's Association - SOKOM, 2009, 9-19.

Hofman, Ana, “Socialist stage: politics of place in musical performance.” New sound, 2010, 36 (2): 120-134.

Hofman, Ana, “Mettre en scène la modernisation la politique culturelle socialiste et les manifestations folkloriques en Serbie,” Études balkaniques, 17 (2010), 189-208.

Hofman, Ana, “Musical borderlands between national and transnational musical spaces.” In: RICHTER, Pál (ed.). Musical traditions: discovery, inquiry, interpretation and application. Budapest: HAS, Research Centre for the Humanities, 2012, 404-421.

Dr. Ivana Medić's research has been focusing on multimedia projects by contemporary avant-garde composers such

as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Vladan Radovanović that transgress the boundaries of “art” to encompass the entire

surrounding space, thus redefining the ways we comprehend music. Medić’s other areas of specialism include the

relationship between music and politics in post-Soviet Russia, the “unofficial” avant-garde music from the

communist USSR, and musical theatre in post-communist Serbia.. As a primarily historical musicologist who is

interested in soundart technology, contemporary music and innovative artistic practices, as well as the impact of

transition on music practices and institutions, Medić's expertise will bring a different perspective into this project.

Her point of view will be particularly valuable in studying sound practices which label themselves as 'artistic' and

which deliberately challenge and change the existing dominant urban soundscapes.

“Helicopters, Aliens and Dancing Camels: Mittwoch aus Licht by Karlheinz Stockhausen” in Sanja Pajić and Valerija Kanački (eds.), Music and Other Media, Kragujevac, FILUM, 2013. (In press)

“Idiots, Devils and Sinners: Alfred Schnittke's Post-Soviet Operas”, Musical Wave No. 42, 2013 (In press)“Gubaidulina, Misunderstood”, Musicology No. 13, 2012, 103-123. “‘I Believe... In What?’ Arvo Pärt's and Alfred Schnittke's Polystylistic Credos,” Slavonica vol. 16 No. 2, Nov. 2010, 96-111. “Licht: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Cosmic-Ritual Theatre”, Musical Wave No. 36-37, 2008, 52-85.

2.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PLANNED RESEARCH FOR THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

Focusing specifically on the urban soundscape this project will significantly contribute the enhancement of existent

soundscape studies, also by critically analyzing the existent vocabulary. For example, how far is Murray Schafer’s

distinction into keynote sounds, sound signals, and landscape signals developed in his central study The Tuning of

the World (1977) really sufficient for such a modern urban space that also includes human – emotional and social –

layers? Due to the comprehensive and interactive exchange of the analyses of the three different urban case studies,

this project intends to contribute to the development of a distinct language of urban sound perception.

Soundscape research is closely intertwined with ecological issues, as it highlights omnipresent, yet often only

unconsciously perceived elements of the human soundscape environment. Generally speaking, the comparative

soundscape study in three different urban environments will thus also contribute to the debate on how to deal with

“noise pollution” that has a recognizable impact on the human physical well-being. At the same time, this study

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uncovers human strategies of orientation within urban environments. What is the impact of the Lo-Fi sound in the

different settings? How strong is the need for alternative (Hi-Fi) sound spaces in cities – and how can these be

developed? Noise pollution is particularly a problem of many financially-weak countries that often depend on the re-

usage older, often noisy machines, for instance. This project will address the possibilities in these regions to raise the

awareness and develop affordable instruments of reducing these problems that are also intertwined with

sociopolitical issues (see also Part 3 Transition relevance).

2.4 DETAILED RESEARCH PLAN

The project is organised in three themes that will be addressed in the research conducted by all partners:

1) Religious city soundscapes (church bells, mosques, street religious performances).

2) Urban soundscapes as places of political participation.

3) Individual city soundscapes – mobile music, technology and public space.

While these themes are running over the entire duration, they are focal topics for specific research periods each year

(see also the Milestones chart below). In the initial phase, case studies define in detail the theoretical and

methodological frameworks and develop a research design. The fieldwork will take place in all three cities

simultaneously, with the mix group of researchers working on the particular topics. Every partner thus will be

involved in the data-collecting and observing not only in their place of residence but other two as well.

The fieldwork is framed by workshops which will be held after every of the planned phases of the research (see

the Milestones chart that also contains the timeline):

1) Initial phase (M1-3): kick-off meeting, organized in Bern (M3),

2) Fieldwork phase (M4-24): material systematization workshop, organized in Ljubljana (M12)

3) Dissemination of the results (audiowalk and publication production): audiowalk conceptualization

workshop organized in Belgrade (M24)

4) Presentation of the results: final workshop, organized in Bern (M36)

This organization of work activities will also enable to track the progress of work on the individual themes.

Outputs

1. The production of an audio walk of all three cities that will also be posted online (from the material

gathered during the fieldwork the conceptual design of a audio-walk of all three cities will be developed).

2. The publication City Sonic Ecology: Urban Soundscapes of Bern, Ljubljana and Belgrade (project results

will be published in a joint publication, edited by the leaders of the all project partners).

2.5 DIVISION OF INDIVIDUAL TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES BETWEEN THE PROJECT

PARTNERS AND TIMELINE

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Milestone Associated activity Expected duration Responsible project partner

YEAR 1 Preparatory phase Development of a theoretical basis

Collection of first sound data material Definition of the theoretical and methodological framework

Month 1-4: Preparatory phase

Bern

Kick-off meeting Month 3 Bern Conceptualization of the tools for fieldwork

research Fieldwork: identification and further collection of sound material

Month 4 (second half)-Month 8

Bern

Theme 1: Religious city soundscapes

Revision and establishment of a theoretical and methodological approach selection and conceptualization of audiowalks (physical framework

Month 8-11 Bern

Conceptual workshop Meeting Month 12 Ljubljana YEAR 2 Theme 2: Urban soundscape and political participation

Fieldwork; identification and collection of material.

Month 13-16 Ljubljana

Collection, selection and preparation of material for the audio-walk.

Month 17-23 Ljubljana

Theme 3: Individual soundscapes

Fieldwork; identification and collection of material.

Month 21-24 Belgrade

Meeting: Discussion audio walks drafts

Month 24 Belgrade

YEAR 3 Key analysis phase: re-mining and re-coding

of data as appropriate, excerpts and presentations of literary works, interviews with writers, etc.

Month 24-30 Belgrade

Meeting for conceptualization of edited volume

Month 30 Belgrade

Final analyses Finalizing of the book publication

Month 30-36 Bern

Final workshop Report Month 36 Bern The different sets of actions proposed here will be organised in a coherent and consistent manner. Proposed themes

identified as religious, political and individual soundscapes will be researched across partner countries. The work

plan is structured three phases – by clear identifiable and achievable objectives and the structure builds around three

thematic clusters:

Religious soundscapes of each city will be identified through the audiowalks, sound analysis of the musical

parameters (such as loudness, overlapping of sounds, interval relation of bell ringing), the position of the religious

sound in people’s perception (i.e. importance of the sound, perception of noise vs. music), the visible and audible

reaction of people to the sound.

Urban soundspace as a place of political participation will be observed through audio and visual ethnography.

The manner of the public expression of the individuals and groups, the use of the audio devices or musical

instruments and the reaction of people who are intentionally or unintentionally spoken to as they pass by will be the

main objectives of the observation. We will also pay attention how sound is being used as a mobilizing agent in

political gatherings, street rallies, etc.

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Individual city soundscapes will be studied through semi-structured interviews, participation observance and audio

and visual ethnography. We will identify citizens’ attitudes towards dominant soundscapes and discuss their

potential agency to modify their personal experience, but also to influence broader public issues. We will closely

observe how soundscape technologies are being implemented and how they can influence and structure the

participants’ social agency.

Individual Task Description (for a broader description, see also Management Plan):

The responsibility of the fulfilment of the work plan for each phase has been divided among partners in accordance

with their relevant expertise and their interests. Although all partners will be involved in all of the planned tasks,

each partner is leader for one of the project phases:

- The Swiss partner will offer thematic and methodological competences to provide advice and support in the

planning of project activities in the first phase of the project.

- The Slovenian partner will coordinate fieldwork activities while Serbian Institute will monitor the task of

audio walks conceptualizing, development and realization.

- The University of Bern, coordinator of the project, will monitor the work plan and all the project activities

and quality of project deliverables. It will be in charge of the internal evaluation as well.

The other partner institutions will be responsible towards the coordinator for the performance of the particular

thematic cluster and project phase, for its scientific standard and for all other aspects related to planning. Projects

results will be presented and discussed at the final project conference held in Bern.

Bern (team leader: Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers; supported by a 15% academic coordination position), as the main

applicant, will also function as the central organizer and administrator for the whole project. This includes

administration of the financial funds and the maintenance of the overall time plan. Likewise, the task of Bern will be

to organize the starting meetings that will also include a theoretical foundation; the project partners form Ljubljana

and Belgrade will also have the option to benefit from the program offers of the Center for Cultural Studies

(Philosophical-historical Faculty, University of Bern). With regard to the local fieldwork, the central research will

be undertaken by Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers (a seminar and, thus pre-project on Bern’s soundscapes was already

undertaken in 2010 (see above); this will be continued by a further research seminar, besides further individual

research by Sweers). Given the strong request of soundscape research, students will also have the option to write

their bachelor and master thesis within this context.

Ljubljana (team leader: Prof. Dr. Ana Hofman) will coordinate the Ljubljana’s soundscapes fieldworks and will

host a meeting at the end of the first year of the project, dedicated to the preliminary workshop results, analyzing

and systematizing of collected data and building guidelines for the second phase of the project. Dr. Hofman will lead

a national research team in conducting the soundscape fieldwork (dr. Mojca Kovačič, Dr. Martin Pogačar, Dr. Tanja

Petrović and Polona Sitar) of the key urban environments of Ljubljana: the key places of religious soundscape – Old

city and conflicting places like the residential areas near the church or predicted mosque (Mojca Kovačič),

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administrative and political centre - Kongresni trg, Trg Republike (Sitar, Hofman). Besides focusing on the central

city areas, one part of the research team will be focus on the “migrant soundscapes” by researching city outskirts

populated mainly by the migrants from former Yugoslavia (Pogačar, Hofman). The Ljubljana team will also focus

on the “post-industrial” city soundscapes by conducting fieldwork in the ruined/old industrial parts of Ljubljana built

during socialism and today transformed into the meeting spaces of the artists, activists and different kind of

alternative culture practices (Petrović, Hofman).

Belgrade (team leader: Dr. Ivana Medić) will function as the organizer of the Belgrade soundscapes fieldworks and

it will host a meeting on the end of the second year of the project (discussing the audio walks drafts). Local

fieldwork will be conducted by Medić, as well as by Ph.D. students Srđan Atanasovski, Marija Dumnić and Biljana

Srećković. Under the supervision of Medić, the team will particularly focus on three urban areas: Skadarlija

(Dumnić), Saint Sava Plateaux (Atanasovski) and Savamala (Srećković). Saint Sava Plateaux will be investigated as

a ‘religioscape’, questioning how people corporeally react to the sound of the church bells as a prominent

‘soundmark’ of the area, and what meaning do they ascribe to them. Skadarlija will be studied as a place where

nostalgic soundscape of the ‘old Belgrade’ is being commodified and consumed, while Savamala will be approached

as a place of private and public initiative, where citizens try to reclaim the urban zone using new technologies and

artistic practices.

Methodology

On a first level, the project will establish a systematic overview of the theoretical discussion of concepts of

soundscape research authenticity from the broader area of ethnomusicology, yet also other disciplines. The central

practical research part of the project will be conducted by using a cluster of methods: 1) field work grounded on

ethnographic documentation on the sound topography of the city, supported by the semi-structured interviews

(particularly necessary when concerns the topic of individual soundscapes); 2) dynamic cartographic approach of

audiowalk in which the collected archival, textual, visual, musical and sonic data within an Interactive Digital

Environment; 3) musicological analyses of the data collected and its critical deliberation. So far, except for the sonic

descriptions above, little preliminary data material exists.

The overall methodology is based on triangulation as a methodology facilitating validation and interpretation of

fieldwork data. It refers to the application and combination of several research techniques in the soundscape research

– i.e. transcription and sound analysis. This approach includes also a researcher triangulation, referring to the

involvement of more than one researcher from more than one partner institution in the local field to gather and

interpret data from several perspectives. Given these procedures, triangulation seems to be a promising strategy

given that fulfilment of our objectives will be largely dependent on the degree of methodological completeness. The

distillation of the actual models will be shaped by the “grounded theory approach” – which is a constant interplay of

empirical findings and the framing of theoretical findings (Glaser and Strauss 1965, 1967, 1968, Charmaz 2001).

Literature Acoustic Ecology Research Group website: http://webapps1.ucalgary.ca/~acoustic/

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Ahmed, Sara (2004): “Affective Economies”. Social Text 22: 117–139. Bijsterveld, Karin, and José van Dijck, eds. (2009): Sound Souvenirs: Audio Technologies, Memory and Cultural Practices . Amsterdam University Press. Böhme, Gernot (2000): “Acoustic Atmospheres: A Contribution to the Study of Ecological Aesthetics”. Soundscape, The Journal of Acoustic Ecology 1: 14–18. Bosshard, Andres (1993): “Discovering and Exploring the Terrestrial Soundscape”. In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol. II, no publisher, no pagination. Charmaz, Kathy (2001): “Grounded Theory”. In Contemporary Field Research: Perspectives and Formulations, edited by Robert M. Emerson, Long Grove: Waveland Press, 335–352. Corringham, Viv (2006): “Urban Song Paths: Place Resounding”. Organised Sound 11: 27-35. Dandrel, Louis (1993): "Sound Town Planning". In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol. I, no publisher, no pagination. Demers, Joanna (2010): Listening through the Noise. Oxford University Press. Dyrssen, Catharina (1998) "Eyes Letting Go". Yearbook of Soundscape Studies 1: 7–24. Feld, Steven (1982): Sounds and Sentiment. Birds, Weeping, Poetics and Song in Kaluli Expression. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Feld, Steven (1993): “From Ethnomusicology to Echo-muse-ecology. Reading R. Murray Schafer in the Papua New Guinea Rainforest”. In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol. II, no publisher, no pagination. Fraser, Benjamin (2011): “Re-scaling emotional approaches to music: Basque band Lisabö and the soundscapes of urban alienation”. Emotion, Space and Society 4: 8–16. Glaser, Barney G., and Anselm L. Strauss (1965): Awareness of Dying. Chicago: Aldine. Glaser, Barney G., and Anselm L. Strauss (1967): The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine. Glaser, Barney G., and Anselm L. Strauss (1968): Time for Dying. Chicago: Aldine. Goodman, Steve (2010): Sonic Warfare. Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. MIT Press. Hayden, Robert M., and Timothy D. Walker (2013). “Intersecting Religioscapes: A Comparative Approach to Trajectories of Change, Scale, and Competitive Sharing of Religious Spaces”. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81: 399 –426. Hedfors, Per, and Patrik Grahn (1998): “Soundscapes in Urban and Rural Planning and Design”. Yearbook of Soundscape Studies 1: 67–82. Hegarty, Paul (2010): Noise/Music. A History. New York: Continuum. Hellstrom, Bjorn (1998): “The Voice of Place. A Case Study of the Soundscape of the City Quarter of Klara, Stockholm”. Yearbook of Soundscape Studies 1: 25–42. Järviluoma, Helmi, and Gregg Wagstaff, eds. (2002): Soundscape Studies and Methods. Helsinki: Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology Publ. 9 University of Turku Department of Art, Literature and Music, Series A 51. Kanngieser, Anja (2012): “A sonic geography of voice: Towards an affective politics“. Progress in Human Geography 36: 336 –353. Karlsson, Henrik. (2000) “The Acoustic Environment as Public Domain”. Soundscape, The Journal of Acoustic Ecology 1/2: 10 –13. Kim-Cohen, Seth (2009): In the Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art. New York: Continuum. Kruth, Patricia, and Henry Stobart, eds. (2000): Sound. Cambridge University Press. LaBelle, Brandon (2006): Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art. New York: Continuum. Latour, Bruno (2005): Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Lefebvre, Henri (2004): Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. Trans. by Stuart Elden and Gerald Moore. New York: Continuum. Licht, Alan (2007): Sound Art, Beyond Music, Between Categories. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. McCartney, Andra (2000) “Soundwalking Blue Montreal”. Soundscape, The Journal of Acoustic Ecology 1/2: 28–29. Marry, Solène (2011): “Assessment of Urban Soundscapes“. Organised Sound 16: 245–255. Oddie, Richard (2011): “Other Voices: Acoustic Ecology and Urban Soundscapes”. In The Natural City: Re-envisioning the Built Environment, edited by Ingrid Leman-Stefanovic and Stephen B. Scharper, University of Toronto Press, 161–173. Schafer, R. Murray (1968): The New Soundscape. Toronto: Berandol; 1969 as The New Soundscape: A Handbook for the Modern Music Teacher, Toronto: Berandol (Soundscape Document No. 3); 1969 Vienna: Universal Edition; 1971a London

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and Vienna: Universal Edition (No. 26905); translated into German 1971 Der Schallwelt in der Wie leben, publisher unknown; 1976 in: Creative Music Education: A Handbook for the Modern Music Teacher, New York: Macmillan (Shirmer Books); translated into Spanish 1985 El nuevo paisaje sonoro, Ricordi Americana BA 13315; 1986 in The Thinking Ear Toronto: Arcana Editions, pp. 93-169. Schafer, R. Murray (1969a): “The City as a Sonic Sewer”. Vancouver Sun, March 11, p. 61. Schafer, R. Murray (1969b): A Social Survey on Noise. Communications Centre, Simon Fraser University. Schafer, R. Murray (1974): “Listening”. Sound Heritage 3/4: 10–17. 1977 text revised and included in Schafer 1977, pp. 205–213. Schafer, R. Murray (1976): “Exploring the New Soundscape”. Unesco Courier 29: 4–8. Schafer, R. Murray (1977): The Tuning of the World. New York: Knopf, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd.; translated into German 1988 Klang und Krach. Eine Kulturgeschichte des Hörens. Frankfurt am Main: Athenäum. Reprinted 1994 as Our Sonic Environment and the Soundscape: The Tuning of the World, Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books. Schafer, R. Murray (1992): “Music, Non-Music and the Soundscape”. In Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought, edited by J. Paynter, T. Howell, R. Orton and P. Seymour. London: Routledge, 34–45; 1993 as “Music and the Soundscape” in Schafer 1993, 115–130. Schafer, R. Murray (1993): Voices of Tyranny, Temples of Silence. Indian River, Ontario: Arcana Editions. Schafer, R. Murray (1996): “Soundscape und akustische Ökologie”. In: Klangkunst: Tönende Objekte und klingende Räume, edited by Helga de la Motte-Haber. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Schafer, R. Murray (1998): Preface for Yearbook of Soundscape Studies (“Northern Soundscapes”) 1, edited by R. Murray Schafer and Helmi Järviluoma, University of Tampere, Department of Folk Tradition, p. 5. Simpson, Paul (2008): “Chronic Everyday Life: Rhythmanalysing Street Perfromance”. Social & Cultural Geography 9: 807 –829. Smith, Christopher (1993): “The Acoustic Experience of Place”. In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol.II, no publisher, no pagination. Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology (2000–2001) Vols. I-II. Thompson, Emily (2002): The Soundscape of Modernity. MIT Press. Tremblay, Jean-Thomas (2012): “On Feeling Political: Negotiating (within) Affective Landscapes and Soundscapes”. PhaenEx 7: 96-123 Truax, Barry (1974): “Soundscape Studies: An Introduction to the World Soundscape Project”. Numus-West 5: 36–39. Truax, Barry (1977): “The Soundscape and Technology”. Interface 6: 1–8. Truax, Barry (1984): Acoustic Communication. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. 2001: 2nd edition. Truax, Barry (1996): “Soundscape, Acoustic Communication and Environmental Sound Composition”. Contemporary Music Review 15: 44–65. Truax, Barry (1998): “Models and Strategies for Acoustic Design” [Talk given at Acoustic Ecology Conference, Stockholm, June 1998]. Truax, Barry (2001): Handbook for Acoustic Ecology [CD-ROM]. Vancouver: Cambridge Street Publishing. Truax, Barry and Hildegard Westerkamp (1993): “The World Soundscape Project: 25 Years in Vancouver”. In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol.I, no publisher, no pagination. Voegelin, Salomé (2006): “Sonic memory material as ‘pathetic trigger’”. Organised Sound 11: 13–18. Voegelin, Salome (2010): Listening to Noise and Silence. New York: Continuum. Waitt, Gordon, Ella Ryan and Carol Farbotko (2013): “A Visceral Politics of Sound“. Antipode Early View, Article first published online: 8 Jul 2013. Werner, Hans Ulrich, Insertionisten (1997): Soundscape Design. Klangwelten Horzeichen. Basel: Akroama. Westerkamp, Hildegard (1974): “Soundwalking”. Sound Heritage 3: 8–27. Westerkamp, Hildegard (1990): “Listening and Soundmaking: A Study of Music-as-Environment”. In Sound by Artists, edited by D. Lander and M. Lexier. Banff, Alberta: Art Metropole & Walter Phillips Gallery, 227–234. World Soundscape Project (1978): Handbook for Acoustic Ecology, edited by Barry Truax (No. 5 in "The Music of the Environment Series". Editor of series: R. Murray Schafer). Vancouver: ARC Publications. Wreford, Miller (1993): “Ecology and the Ideology of Sound”. In Proceedings of the First International Conference for Sound Ecology, "The Tuning of the World". Vol.II, no publisher, no pagination. Wrightson, Kendall (2000): “An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology”. Soundscape, The Journal of Acoustic Ecology, 1/1: 10–13. Zittoun, Tania (2012): “The art of noise: Comment on The sound of silence”. Culture & Psychology 18: 472–483.

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3.1 SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE SUSTAINABLE ACADEMIC, ECONOMIAL, AND SOCIETAL

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARTNER COUNTRIES

This project will have a strong impact with regard to the larger ethnomusicological community, as it will help to

connect Eastern European scholars with the dominant Western networks that can often only barely be attended – due

to the lack of financial backing, yet also due to the lack of access to central publications and, thus, discourses.

However, the relevance of the project outcomes will exceed a purely academic domain, likewise addressing wider

actors, social subjects, and activities that are also directly involved in policy making. The issues we address in the

project have been chosen on the basis of being

a) innovative and of crucial importance, according to our experience and previous research;

b) sustainable and implementable by all the partner organisations;

c) related to the particular competences of the partners.

The proposed project results are designed to be used for university programs in the fields of ethnomusicology, music

history, cultural history, anthropology, cultural studies, cultural geography, architecture, and urban planning. Thee

audiowalk can be a useful educational tool, which combines a digital approach with conventional teaching methods

and will thus incorporate new technologies in teaching. It will contribute to a learning model, which is based on

personal engagement with the world. It will thus provide an interface between the university classroom and society,

and will contribute to the preservation and dissemination of this knowledge.

The project will raise the awareness of the role that sound plays in the quality of everyday working and living

context. In this regard, this will also be important for encouraging the circulation of knowledge, experiences and

good practices and for favouring new initiatives related to urban planning, ecological, and urban life in general. In

this way, the collected material can be used to raise awareness and to diagnose the need to take action in a sense of

policy making The sensitization of local and national policies on best practices is also an essential action to facilitate

attitude changes towards a more healthy and attractive urban environment. The analysis of such frameworks in every

partner institution will serve as a valuable database to move towards a more sensitive urban planning.

The project’s most original contribution concerns the focus on audiowalk tours based on the research results. These

will also be used for the promotion of the cities in terms of contributing to the touristic city offer. Such a tool will

moreover provide knowledge and raising awareness with regard to ecological issues at various levels and to act in

favour of the necessity to develop strategies to reduce and to ultimately combat “noise pollution” (Schafer 1993

[1977]) and related phenomena. This is an important step on especially in the case of East European societies to

legitimate the development of specific strategies to adjust to every particular context.

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Finally, an impact will also be achieved in the awareness-raising of the transition processes influence on everyday

life in urban centres. Post-industrial, post-socialist but also post-conflict (in a sense of the Yugoslav War) of the

cities’ soundscapes reflect the political, economic changes in Eastern Europe. Dominant accession discourses and

political practices in Central and South-eastern Europe is based on a dialogue on how European citizens, or peoples

living in various parts of the continent, understand the meaning of European values and negotiate and practice

Europeanness. This project involves partners from three states in the various stage within EU in the region of the

Western Balkans (Serbia - EU candidate), in the New-EU member states (Slovenia) and in Switzerland.

By mapping the urban sound geography in the three different context and by addressing also politically sensitive

issues, such as religion (particularly sensitive in the case of former Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav conflict) and new

forms of political participation, the project also intends to uncover partly unconscious human strategies of

adaptation, communication, and conflict through the urban sound geography, hereby also contributing to the

- city soundecology and conflict solving,

- auditory side of migration and integration,

- sonic modernization in the light of transitional paradigm in the Central and East European societies.

On the other hand, the project will reflect on the “shared” urban sonic legacy among the cities under research.

Globalization and mobility which have significantly remodeled the relations between sound and space in the last

decades enabled profound new connections in a sense of dynamics of detaching and repositioning This includes

aspects such as refiguring/appropriating urban spaces by musicians, the ways the latest economic crises has

prompted many musicians to play on the city streets and squares, as well as the anti-austerity measures protests

across Europe and their distinguished sonic aspects. The project will look into the parallel and multiplied images,

discourses and practices on sonic ecologies and attempts to facilitate (self-)perception and politics of belonging.

This could also provide a better foundation of the ongoing EU integration and prevent the utilization of already

established stereotypes and mechanisms of exclusion.

The outcome of the project, a monograph and audio walks, will also contribute to the improvement of the existing

cultural policies in the cities by pointing to the stereotypes and ideological mechanisms used for exclusion. By

uncovering partly unconscious human strategies of adaptation, communication, and conflict through the urban sound

geography, it will raise sensitivity of the policy makers for these ideological patterns and awareness of consequences

of an unreflected application, such as with regard to the perception of migrant cultures in their host countries. For

example, given that Switzerland hosts many former guest-workers and refugees from former Yugoslavia, the

comparative study of Bern, Belgrade, and Ljubljana should bring out many interconnected observations and might

thus also be of sociopolitical impact.

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3.2 STRATEGIES TO STRENGTHEN INDIVIDUAL AND/OR INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITIES

The project promotes gender balance by giving special attention to women researchers at early stages of the career

(in this project, four post-doctoral female researchers from all partner institutions are involved). Furthermore, all

three team leaders are experienced female researchers who will share their knowledge not only between each other,

but also with the younger scholars of the different project partners. The integration of a gendered perspective into

the project will enable the female researchers to benefit from obtaining significant research mobility through the

visits at the other partner institutions. Being in a close contact with the colleagues from the other countries and

institutions will enable all project participants to exchange best practices regarding their status within academia and

integrate a gender dimension in research content.

As our focus is on a comparative perspective, the project activities are organized in close cooperation among all

partner institutions. This will contribute to the exchange of experiences from different high-educational and research

institutions of the different countries – from which not only the Eastern European partners, but also the Swiss

partner will strongly benefit. Our consortium will make these institutional benefits accessible at national level by

assembling, consolidating, and disseminating successful benchmarks, experiences and best practices for the other

partner institutions. This will be also promoted through joint fieldworks, workshops and conferences in all partner

countries. These have the purpose of not only creating, transferring, and disseminating results of the project, but will

also help in building research capacities, particularly in partner institutions from Eastern Europe. The proposed

project represents an important opportunity for partners from Western Balkans to acquire knowledge, improving the

quality of research and develop new ideas, methodologies, as well as acquiring technical equipment necessary for

further research. A high number of Ph.D. students involved in the project from Serbian partner institution (Srđan

Atanasovski, Marija Dumnić) and post-doctoral-early career researchers from Slovenian partner (Dr. Mojca Kovačič

and Dr. Martin Pogačar) aims to address the vulnerability of research work and on the early stages of scientific

careers, and its specific challenges. The collaboration among scholars who already have an established place in the

ethnomusicological world and wider scientific disciplines is of great importance for young Ph.Ds and Ph.D.

candidates, as well as for women in science. Particularly this network will be an important reference in pursuing

their career at the national and international level. The invitation of the individual partners to the joint project,

particularly young scientists, is based on their interest in the proposed topic and personal research results rather than

their institutional affiliation.

The (likewise joint) publication of scientific papers and the participation in academic meetings and conventions will

help to disseminate the developed actions and interventions. It will also help to encourage their application in new

research projects – which will provide further opportunities for the younger researchers. On the other hand, through

seminars, meetings, and the creation of a web site and multimedia materials, the theoretical and applicative results of

the project will be disseminated among partner institutions. Best practices guidelines will be built upon a solid

foundation of scientific analysis, expert implementation and impact evaluation. This is why we will work on the

transferability of best practices based on reciprocal learning between partners.

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3.3 FORSEEN STRATEGY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES OF

INTENDED RESULTS

The different sets of actions proposed by the project will be organised in a coherent and consistent manner. Common

themes that were identified for the project, i.e. religions, political and individual soundscapes in the city ecology of

Bern, Ljubljana and Belgrade, will also reveal a mapping of national contexts of city soundscapes. Central goals are

thus an awareness-raising of the importance of soundscape in our everyday living in urban environment; awareness-

rising of sound pollution in the cities, improving our soundscape environment; the role of sound in revealing implicit

discrimination, exclusions but also inclusion and multiculturality; soundscapes and the politics of participation in

public sphere; the role of soundscape in the promotion of city touristic offer; all in comparative research across

partner countries. The latter will serve as a basis for the elaboration of toolkits and guidelines for further

development in the areas of urban planning, heritage politics, urban ecology strategies.

A base for the stakeholders with relevance for potential future research, exploitation and innovation will be formed

by the following units and groups:

- academia (i.e. educational tool)

- policy makers

- tourism

- urban citizens

The project’s first aim in dissemination activities is to achieve continuous distribution and use of knowledge

amongst partners, the academic community, and the potential audiences (students, interested public, policy makers,

and stakeholders). For example, audiowalks, as a main tool for dissemination of research results, will be used as

educational material and in the educational process. In this respect, a website with audiowalks will serve as a basis

for research, educational, and professional virtual spaces for different users (academia, students, teachers,

stakeholders, experts in the field). Results of the individual city soundscape such as the study of people's attitudes

towards music or noise, individual perceptions of both, and historical perspective of the sound policy control in

cities will offer new solutions or suggestions for amendments to laws and regulations relating to the effects of sound

on the environment or public order. Offering free access to the website of audiowalks and soundmaps of three cities

the tourist attraction of cities will be complemented, tourists will so be offered a new perspective of the host country

or the city which they are visiting. The social, aesthetic, and ethic awareness of the tourists, as well as of city

inhabitants and city policy makers will be raised through an emphasis on the contribution of street musicians to the

enlivenment and by an enrichment of the cities’ soundscapes, as well as by drawing attention to the multicultural

diversity of the cities and their inhabitants. To that end, the dissemination strategy envisages intensive collaboration

on the consortium level, presentation of ongoing research, and participation of partners in conceptual and

methodological development of each IP’s research design to ensure high-quality results. All this will facilitate

inclusion also into broader discussions of potential users.

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The project’s central aim is contribution to a better understanding of the role of sound in the everyday life strategies,

cultural productions, and politics of belonging in urban contexts of the three selected cities. It puts on light the

importance of the soundscapes and their potential to create social and musical networks and sites of belonging, in

shaping new subjectivities and urban identities. It points to the ways sound practices contribute to strengthening the

local communities’ projects and links. With extensive fieldwork and through focusing on the complex relationship

between sound and urban environment, the project findings will support the development of inclusive policies that

will contribute to preservation of cultural identities of groups, as well as of individuals. The project also contributes

to democratization and pluralization of the discussion on the urban cultural heritage of all partner countries and to a

better understanding of the current processes of Europeanization and regionalization. The project results will thus

offer potential sources for defining strategies in the context of cultural policies, hereby becoming important

initiatives at national, local and European levels.

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4 MANAGEMENT SCHEME

Collaboration:

Responsibility:

Main project partners/ team leaders

Local research

Organization framework meetings

Organization Question1 and 2

Organization Question 3

Central organizational administration and control

Reminder: milestones, etc.

Central organizational responsibility:

Book publication

Central organizational repsonsibility:

Soundwalk Final conference

Fieldwork project

Student team (seminar project)

Additional option for 2-3 master thesis projects

Fieldwork teams Administration

Dr. Mojca Kovačič Dr. Tanja Petrović Dr. Martin Pogačar Polona Sitar, Ph.D. student

Fieldwork teams administration

Srđan Atanasovski, Ph.D. student Marija Dumnić, Ph.D. student Biljana Srećković,Ph.D. student, outside member

Bern

Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers

Ljubljana

Prof. Dr. Ana Hofman

Belgrade

Dr. Ivana Medić

- Joint publication of the findings (book and soundwalk recording) - Website that links all three partners - Joint presentations at international conferences (e.g. final presentation at the

European Seminar in Ethnomusicology)

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Commentary:

The main organizational objective of this project is collaboration. However, while the idea is thus to meet on an

equal level, the management structure contains hierarchical elements: Bern as the central organizer is administering

the financial funds and is responsible for the maintenance of the overall time plan. Within this broader framework

that is kept together by Bern, each project partner (headed by a team leader) will take on responsibility for the

various objectives of the project:

- This refers to the central goals, the book publication (Ljubljana: main responsibility (shared editorship

notwithstanding) including the publishing process) and the soundwalk (Belgrade; similarly – the

responsibility includes the organization and production of the soundwalk recording).

- This also refers to the various meetings: Each milestone is accompanied by joint meetings of the teams.

Each partner will take on responsibility not only for 1-2 central research questions, but also for the

organization and the setting of the local meetings.

As the goal is also to strengthen country A (Serbia) and younger scholars, the Eastern European partners comprise

larger research teams than Switzerland. Besides the strengthening of the collaboration between Slovenia, Serbia, and

Switzerland a central goal is to strengthen the international connection of ethnomusicology in Serbia, and individual

capacities within this country. Within this context, Country B (Slovenia) will thus receive supervision from Bern

with regard to larger management, while Country A will receive supervision from both Bern and Ljubljana.

The fieldwork sections are mainly undertaken independently (although the project plan also includes shared

experiences). Each project partner is thus responsible for the local organization (including the decision of necessary

supplies).The regular meetings will ensure a constant exchange (that will also be maintained by general means like

email and Skype contact). A further strengthening of partners A and B is finally intended through joint presentations

at conferences, the joint publication and recording production– and a common website that will present the local

work that will each serve as the outside presentation of the project.