Designing urban soundscapes for the effects of nature

Acoustic ecology prioritises the protection of natural soundscapes from urban and technological noise; however, the incessant global spread of human-induced noises calls for renewed creative responses to urban soundscape design. This paper suggests a deep listening practice within undisturbed natural soundscapes to reveal the 'effects of nature', the knowledge of which may be transposed upon the noises of urban soundscapes; a methodology emerging from this practice is the 'repatterning' of existent sound objects in urban spaces. The suggested practice requires a bifurcation of acoustic ecology's traditional approach: firstly, continued active preservation of existing natural soundscapes; and secondly, transforming the noises of urban soundscapes by referencing the 'effects of nature'. Applying the ideas of Serres and Guattari to acoustic ecology practitioners, such as Schafer and Truax, is integral to this emergent approach. Serres suggests noise has a stercoral effect on space, while simultaneously acting as a transformative tool for the reordering of social relations; Guattari's ecosophy by eschewing the nature-culture dichotomy interrelates the protection of environmental ecologies with the diversification of mental ecologies and social ecologies. Such transversal analyses of differing modes of thought offers recontextualisations of acoustic ecology approaches, which is demonstrated by two case studies described in this paper.