28 de March de 2024

Mapping the sound of our cities with citizen science

Did you know that noise pollution is the leading cause of environmental complaints? The WHO states that at least 20% of European citizens are exposed to noise levels considered high during the day, and more than 15% at night. The project “SoundCollect, the sound of the community” will promote active listening of citizens to identify and characterize quiet areas, those urban spaces of high acoustic and socio-environmental value.

From Science For Change we coordinate the SoundCollect project, in which is being developed a free citizen science tool that allows the monitoring of sound data in quiet urban areas. With the specialized app SoundCollect and the active participation of citizens, the necessary information will be collected and managed to create collaborative sound maps, which will be available to the population. All to achieve an ambitious challenge: to promote integrated urban planning following a model based on the participation and active listening of citizens.

With the “SoundCollect, the sound of the community” project, we will carry out four pilots where participants will take soundwalkings, exploring and listening to the sounds of the environment while using the SoundCollect app. The first of the workshops took place in Girona on March 10, together with “Associació de Naturalistes de Girona” and the citizens that participated contributing with valuable data for the project.

The next one will take place in Barcelona, in the Sagrada Familia neighbourhood, on May 25 and June 8. It is completely free and open to all those who want to participate. Full details of the upcoming sessions will be available on the Science For Change website very soon.

Each pilot will consist of different workshops in which various dynamics and methodologies of Science For Change will be carried out. In one of the workshops, soundwalking will be carried out through the environment, using the SoundCollect app and discussing different acoustic and citizen science concepts. In another of the workshops, through co-design methods, joint innovative solutions for the preservation of quiet areas will be proposed and shared.

As a result of the learning obtained from all the pilots, a final report will be written that will compile all the actions and solutions proposed during the co-design sessions in order to address the noise pollution problem through citizen science.

Thanks to SoundCollect, spaces for dialogue will be generated about the impact of noise on our health, and the participation of the population in this citizen science project will be encouraged through their active listening and involvement in the co-creation of joint solutions to achieve the preservation of the quiet areas of the territory

Johana Burbano

Odour and Sound Area manager at Science For Change

This project is coordinated by Science For Change, in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya, ICR, Qualud and the expert in quiet areas and citizen science Dr. Antonella Radicchi. It is part of the RIS3CAT Innovation Public Procurement Program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, co-financed by the call for the operational program from the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) of Catalonia 2021-2027.

The SoundCollect app will be soon available on Google Play Store and App Store. Follow the social networks of the @sound_collect project to don’t miss anything that is happening. The first step towards change is within your reach!