Nicola Di Croce

Università Iuav di Venezia | IUAV · Department of Architecture and Arts

In this chapter, I investigate the process of tourism-led urban transformation through the “lens” of the sonic environment. Focusing on a case study developed in Palermo, I explore the atmosphere of the traditional street markets located within the historical centre of the city, and I inquire the traders’ everyday cries and sales pitch. Called abba...

Hearing is an intricate modality of sensory perception. It is continuously enfolded in the surroundings in which it takes place. While passive in its disposition, hearing is integral to the movement and fluctuations of one’s environment. At all times, hearing remains open, (in)active but attuned to the present and continuously immersed in the murmu...

The contribution investigates the role of relational art practice in culture-led urban regeneration processes within areas affected by social vulnerability. Drawing from participatory and collaborative strategies that aim to promote social inclusion, the study shows to what extent relational art practice can be a key tool to foster community empowe...

In 2020, the pandemic impacted the social and economic dynamics of cities around the world. Entertainment districts hosting events, festivals, and other cultural activities were particularly affected, as their loss of attractiveness also impacted their livability. Reflecting on how the experience of the sonic environment contributes to attractivene...

In this short essay I aim to critically advance the notion of sonic ecology by engaging the concept of affective atmosphere and questioning how a forthcoming politics can include the voice of non-human and material formations. Crossing different research fields and theoretical backgrounds, I will introduce a new understanding of disturbance and att...

Sound researchers have spent at least two decades converging on an established need for professionals of the built environment (PBEs) to exhibit sound ‘awareness’ and ‘literacy’. On the side of practice, PBEs are tasked with integrating and making sense of a wide array of details (of which sound is but one consideration) in order to create feasible...

L'articolo investiga le trasformazioni dello spazio pubblico del centro storico di Mestre (Venezia) alla luce dei cambiamenti del commercio al dettaglio e delle politiche promosse per il suo rilancio. L'obiettivo è analizzare i mutamenti dell'attrattività del centro storico in relazione alla sua atmosfera, ovvero al sistema simbolico e percettivo c...

The article discusses how the sonic environment reflects and shapes the atmosphere of vulnerable urban areas. It aims to investigate the potential of critical listening as a tool for attuning and exploring everyday public feelings, and it seeks to engage collaborative sound-art practice as a relevant means for empowering local communities. The cont...

L’opacità è la proprietà di un corpo di non lasciarsi attraversare dalla luce, è un velo che si posa sugli oggetti interrompendo la loro trasparenza. Per questo motivo l’opaco disorienta e allo stesso tempo spinge l’osservatore a cercare percorsi alternativi di conoscenza: ad abbandonare il primato della vista per avvicinarsi alla scoperta del mond...

Participatory design is an emerging interactive practice currently informing different and distant fields such as relational art, urban regeneration, and social innovation. Among these fields, relational art is described as “a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and...

Il saggio si propone di studiare la dimensione affettiva della città esplorando alcune caratteristiche rilevanti della sua atmosfera sonora. Definendo il concetto di atmosfera il contributo chiarisce come l’analisi dell’ambiente sonoro contribuisca alla lettura delle dinamiche urbane e sociali che concorrono all’attrattività dello spazio pubblico....

La traduzione di Élements de rythmanalyse offre un interessante pretesto per rileggere, e leggere finalmente in italiano, un'opera che a partire dalla sua prima edizione francese del 1992 (e dalla traduzione inglese del 2004) ha profondamente segnato la ricerca interdisciplinare nel campo degli studi urbani e sociali degli ultimi decenni.

“Urban atmosphere,” which concerns the intangible features that give “life” to everyday environments, provi- des an important means of appreciating the self-image and narratives of marginalized towns and localities. This paper posits listening critically to sonic environments as a means of exploring and reframing urban atmosphere. Listening practic...

Il testo si propone di indagare le connessioni tra ambiente sonoro e questioni urbane e territoriali attraverso la pratica dell’ascolto. L’obiettivo è elaborare un approccio inedito di ricerca per reinquadrare quelle particolari trasformazioni legate a fenomeni come lo spopolamento, la gentrificazione, il turismo, le sperequazioni, la scomparsa di...

How to can we encourage local development through the development of listening practices? Thise paper focuses on the relationship between urban sound art and planning by inquiring into participatory strategies that can invigorate stimulate sonic awareness. Sonic acknowledgment awareness contributes here to design the development of urban and region...

This research explores the political dimension of sonic environments within public space, with special attention on marginal stakeholders and their sonic behaviour. The aim is to investigate how public policies can relate to issues around the sonic environment and, more generally, how institutions can deal with social conflicts originated by a plur...

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 environm...

How might the recognition of sonic awareness (and its subsequent development) affect and inform the public policy design? It is assumed that the lack of sonic awareness possessed by the citizens who constitute communities currently affects the knowledge controlled by the main stakeholders who establish the guidelines that determine the experience o...