“You can hear them before you see them” Listening through Belfast segregated neighborhoods

Nicola Di Croce

The present research explores urban segregation in Belfast through listening. Specifically, the aim is to investigate how auditory culture subtly and deeply affects everyday lives and how marginal areas can be identified and analyzed from an auditory perspective. Moreover, the paper highlights the strong relationship between everyday sonic environments, certain urban and social issues, and the system of public policies related to the preceding. Therefore, urban planning and public policy design are investigated through a sonic studies approach in order to reveal the political framework of the city. The sonic environment of Belfast’s most segregated areas is characterized by ice cream van melodies and their propagation within different neighborhoods. Such a street trade, which is also spread over Great Britain and Ireland, represents the perfect opportunity to enter areas that are often difficult to approach. The case study shows how a study of the production and reception of the moving melodies emanating from ice cream vans is crucial in detecting where and how Belfast's contemporary culture is developing and in what ways sonic studies may influence a new wave of inclusion policies. The sounds of ice cream vans and their dissemination can be investigated to both confirm and challenge Belfast’s segregation trend; understanding them offers practitioners and dwellers an unexplored “sonic tool” to discuss segregation.

5. Conclusion

References

Augoyard, Jean-François (1979). Pas à pas. Essai sur le cheminement quotidien en milieu urbain. Paris: Éditions du Seuil

Augoyard, Jean-François and Henry Torgue (2006). Sonic Experience: a Guide to Everyday Sounds (trans. Andra McCartney and David Paquette). Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Auinger, Sam and Bruce Odland (2009). “Reflections on the Sonic Commons.” Leonardo Music Journal 19: 63–68.

Baläy, Olivier (2004). “Discrete mapping of urban soundscape.” Soundscape: The Journal For Acoustic Ecology 1: 13-14.

Certeau, Michel de (1990). L'invention du quotidian 1: arts de faire. Paris: Gallimard.

Competition Act (Northern Ireland) (1998).

Cox, Franck, Guy-Marc Hinant, Paul D. Miller, Timothy S. Murphy, Roberto Paci Dalò; Emanuele Quinz, and Achim Szepanski (2006). Millesuoni. Deleuze, Guattari e la musica elettronica (edited by Roberto Paci Dalò and Emanuele Quinz). Napoli: Cronopio.

Dewey, John (1938). Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Di Croce, Nicola (2016) “Audible everyday practices as listening education”. Interference Journal 5: 25-37.

Forum for Alternative Belfast (n.d.). “Cul-de-sac City”.

Gaffikin, Frank and Mike Morrissey (2011). Planning in Divided Cities: Collaborative Shaping of Contested Space. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gopinath, Sumanth and Jason Stanyek (eds.) (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies: Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Henry, Lesley-Anne (2010). “Police stop rioters with ice cream van music.” Belfast Telegraph, May 28.

Kelly, Dara (2011). “Police used ice cream music to embarrass teen rioters in Belfast.” Irish Central, May 21.

LaBelle, Brandon (2010). Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life. New York: Continuum.

Lindblom, Charles E. (1965). The Intelligence of Democracy: Decision Making through Mutual Adjustment. New York: Free Press.

McDonald, Henry (2010). “Ice-cream van music used to calm Belfast riot a mistake, say police”. The Guardian, May 28.

Johnston, Ian (2004). “Ice cream trial judge slams appeal verdict.” The Scotsman, March 21.

Northern Ireland Peace Agreement (The Good Friday Agreement) (1998).

Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (2001). Area Profile of Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (BMUA), 2001. Census data (Crown Copyright).

Office for National Statistics (2009). “A Demographic Portrait of Northern Ireland.” Population Trends 135: Spring 2009.

Plöger, Jörg (2007). Belfast City Report. London: Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.

Pointer, Graham (2007). The UK's Major Urban Areas.

Schön, Donald (1979). “Generative Metaphor: A Perspective on Problem-setting in Social Policy.” In Andrew Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought (pp. 137-163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sennet, Richard (1970). The Uses of Disorder: Personal Identity & City Life. New York: Knopf.

Street Trading Act (Northern Ireland) (2001).

Stephen, Roulston (2006). "Urban Structure: Growth of Belfast. Geography in Action.” London: National Grid for Learning.

Thibaud, Jean-Paul (2003). “The Sonic Composition of the City.” In: Michael Bull and Les Back (eds.), The Auditory Culture Reader (pp. 329-341). Amsterdam: Berg Publishers.

Tip

Tip