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

该项目旨在培养一名研究生的经验、科学数据收集和分析方法，探讨新城市环境下噪音管制与市政规划之间的关系。我们从以前的研究中知道，声学标记可以促进和告知社会文化和生态关系。但问题仍然是，市政规划和噪音管制能在多大程度上改变城市的管理方式。作为世界上城市化速度最快的地区，全球南方作为探索声音在城市发展中的作用的实验室。世界银行（World Bank）、联合国人居署（UN-Habitat）和城市联盟（Cities Alliance）等机构已宣布二级城市是全球经济的未来驱动力，并对指导全球南方国家二级城市的有序发展特别感兴趣。因此，了解声学因素如何促进或不促进弹性对于实现可持续性目标至关重要。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。该研究将在乌干达的古卢进行，古卢是接受世界银行资助的城市基础设施发展项目支持的14个二级城市之一。由于城市化不仅是这些官方发展努力的结果，而且还通过城市居民的日常活动发生，因此研究方法将侧重于与规划专家，音频制作人和运输机械的参与式观察研究，录音和绘制古鲁城市音景，以及小组聆听会议，讨论原始和编辑的音景录音。通过对这些群体的声音进行技术和方言评估，本研究参与了为城市化轨迹提供信息和促进的社会实践，并促进了居民、文化领袖和政策制定者之间的对话。因此，这项研究为实际反思非洲及其他地区的城市规划提供了工具。

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.