Doctoral Dissertation Research: Noise Regulation, Municipal Planning, and Urban Development

该项目培养了一名研究生的经验，科学的数据收集和分析方法，探讨了新的城市背景下噪音监管和市政规划之间的关系。我们从以前的研究中知道，声学标记可以使和通知社会文化和生态关系。但问题仍然是，市政规划和噪音监管在多大程度上可以改变城市的管理方式。作为世界上城市化速度最快的地区，全球南部是探索声音在城市发展中作用的实验室。世界银行、联合国人居署和城市联盟等机构已宣布二级城市是全球经济的未来驱动力，并特别关注指导全球南部此类城市的有序发展。因此，了解声学因素如何可能会或可能不会促进复原力将是实现可持续发展目标的关键。杜克大学博士候选人Joella Bitter将在Louise Meintjes博士的指导下进行为期13个月的人种学研究，以调查快速城市化背景下噪音投诉，城市声音知识和实践以及市政规划之间的联系。这项研究将在乌干达的古卢进行，古卢是世界银行资助的城市基础设施发展项目支持的14个有抱负的二级城市之一。由于城市化不仅是官方发展努力的结果，也是通过城市居民的日常活动，研究方法将集中在规划专家，音频制作人和交通机械师的参与观察研究，古鲁城市声景的音频记录和绘图，以及小组聆听会议讨论原始和编辑的声景录音。通过关注这些群体对声音的技术和方言评估，这项研究涉及到为城市化提供信息和促进城市化轨迹的社会实践，并促进居民，文化领袖和政策制定者之间的对话。因此，这项研究提供了工具，实际上重新思考城市规划在非洲和其他地区。

This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, explores the relationship between noise regulation and municipal planning in new urban contexts. We know from previous research that acoustic markers can enable and inform sociocultural and ecological relations. But the question remains as to what extent municipal planning and regulation of noise can transform how cities are managed. As the fastest urbanizing area of the world, the global south functions as a laboratory for exploring the role of sound in urban development. Institutions such as the World Bank, UN-Habitat, and Cities Alliance have declared secondary cities the future drivers of the global economy, taking special interest in guiding the orderly development of such cities in the global south. Therefore, understanding how acoustic factors may or may not promote resilience will be critical for achieving goals of sustainability. Duke University doctoral candidate, Joella Bitter, supervised by Dr. Louise Meintjes, will undertake 13 months of ethnographic research in order to investigate linkages between noise complaints, urban sound knowledge and practice, and municipal planning in a context of rapid urbanization. The research will take place in Gulu, Uganda, one of the 14 aspiring secondary cities receiving support from World Bank-funded urban infrastructural development programs. Since urbanization occurs not only as a result of these official development efforts, but also through the daily activities of urban residents, the research methods will be focused on participant-observation research with planning experts, audio producers, and transport mechanics, audio recording and mapping of Gulu's urban soundscape, and group listening sessions to discuss raw and edited soundscape recordings. By focusing on both technical and vernacular evaluations of sound across these groups, this research engages the social practices that inform and facilitate the trajectory of urbanization and promotes dialogue between residents, cultural leaders, and policy makers. This research therefore provides tools with which to practically rethink city planning in Africa and beyond.