Dominik Linder (2018)


Stadtklänge und wie man sie kartiert

This thesis discusses urban soundscapes and its effects on people. Day by day, city dwellers move through sounds created by man and machine. This soundscape has a significant influence on our behavior and our decision-making. Often, we do not even realize how much these soundscapes are influencing us. In the first part of the thesis, the relevance of urban soundscape is highlighted throughout a theoretical literary research that discusses the effects of sound on the human experience of urban space. The findings of this research will be supported but also questioned by narrative expert interviews. The core of the second part is formed by the so called Klangraumanalyse. It is an individually and specifically designed methodological approach, which combines already existing methods, and therefore gives the opportunity to investigate urban soundscapes on a qualitative and situational level. The methods of sound recording, sound mapping, sound drawing and photo reporting were combined to a Klangraumanalyse which was implemented into a chosen field within Vienna. The results are not just displayed in this thesis but also on a webpage ( which allows you to get an aural experience of the area. The “Klangraumanalyse” is a first approach towards a qualitative and situational understanding of urban soundscapes. Therefore, it may help to overcome the mere noise analyses that are often the only level of investigation when it comes to urban soundscapes. Thereby, the multiple theoretical scientific approaches should find a practical implementation and should help to affirm the importance within urban development projects. This is the only way how urban soundscapes can be implemented into urban design processes in the future, and thus being able to actively shape urban soundscape.
Submitted   at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning
Supervision   Dr. phil. DI (FH) Sabine Knierbein