tags/topic:
smart city
future

start date:
01.03.2019

responsible team:
Wolfgang Gruel
Jona Eisele
Jonas Kieser
Daniela Rieger

further informations:
http://how-does-tomorrow-sound.com/

goal(s)
When we think about the city of the future, everybody has a picture in mind. We envision smart buildings, electric and autonomous vehicles, delivery drones, and sensors that collect a lot of data. But how do these cities sound? Sound significantly shapes our perception of the environment and has a bigger impact on our well-being than you might think. For the discussion of future cities, we should not only think about pictures of the future, but also understand the impact of sound on us.

process
On a mission to explore the city sounds of tomorrow, we recorded the everyday sounds of today’s urban life using a 3D microphone setup: Pedestrian zones, residential areas, busy intersections and highways cutting through cities. Using these real-life soundbites as a starting point, we simulated how the auditory experience will change if visions of future urban mobility come true.

results
The resulting soundscapes are based on scientific research on realistic sound characteristics of new mobility modes, backed up by insights from audio and automotive engineers. They “show” how the mobility of the future might impact what we’ll hear, and contribute to the discussion about the measures that we have to take to make our cities more livable from an acoustic point of view.