Archiving City’s Acoustic Features Collectively: Istanbul Soundscape Project

Soundscape Project held two events called “A House in Tarlabaşı” and “A Station in Haydarpaşa” to tell the story of Istanbul’s current urban transformation process by focusing on sounds.

The Project invites everyone to archive acoustic features of Istanbul by recording sounds in different districts. We interviewed Özcan Ertek from the project team.

Could you tell us about the project?

The Soundscape of Istanbul project approaches everyday traditions and daily urban life from a sonic perspective and aims to increase public awareness of cultural sounds by means of exhibitions. Its first aim is to archive Istanbul’s existing sound ecology and acoustics; then to be an important actor in raising awareness on urbanization politics by collaborating similar CSOs and organizations.

What does “acoustic ecology of a city” stand for? What is Soundscape?

It is a term used by R. Murray Schafer to draw attention to city’s acoustic features. Schafer’s colleague Truax defines soundscape ecology as “analyzing systematic relations between humans and sonic environments.” According to Oxford Dictionary, it is “a piece of music considered in terms of its component sounds.” Soundscape has an important role in urban planning and design, anthropology and the effects of climate change in the long term.

Why is it important to record and archive the city sounds?

Just like architectural structures that should be preserved in a city, the acoustics and ecology of the city should also be archived.

You call on CSOs and public to collaborate. What do you expect from this cooperation?

The Soundscape of Istanbul project, besides being first of its kind, is very significant as it may lead to further multidisciplinary research as sonic culture is deeply dependent on various factors such as sociological, political, and economic conditions. That’s why we expect CSOs to provide us a space for thinking how sound might contribute as a medium to their projects and activities.