Offering soundscapes walks in Copenhagen
Discovering the role of the sound environment in how you experience different places
In 2022 and 2023, Positive Impact CEO Fiona Pelham and Service Designer Federico Di Fresco hosted regular events for people to experience a 90 minute walk around central Copenhagen – UNESCO-UIA 2023 World Capital of Architecture – and explore the role of the sound environment in how we engage with our cities, communities, and people.
Copenhagen-based architectural firm Cobe’s team participating in a private Soundscape Walk
During this soundscape walk, participants took part in 3 soundscape mapping activities that helped to:
understand the sound environment of places
learn new soundscape vocabulary to explain how you experience the sound environment of a place
gain a new understanding of sound in our cities and communities
The walks took place from 14:00 - 15:30 and started (in all weathers!) at the Garden of the Royal Library.
5 minutes before the walk is scheduled to start, Soundscapes walks facilitators Fiona and Federico could be found holding a yellow umbrella!
Participants were asked to bring your fully charged phone to use it at specific times during the walk.
Copenhagen-based architectural firm Cobe’s team participating in a private Soundscape Walk
2023 soundscapes walks series was part of UNESCO-UIA 2023 World Capital of Architecture events program.
The walks were designed to inspire participants and offer them a different way to experience Copenhagen while participating in an exploration to better understand the nuances of the role of the sound environment in how people engage.
Sustainable Development Goal 11, indicator 3.2 is:
Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.
Participants of soundscape walks learned methodology and vocabulary so they could advance this goal and indicator.
The 2023 Soundscapes Walks series was inspired by the interest and learnings from participants of the 2022 Soundscapes Walks series as a way to further explore the topic and keep sharing our learnings.
Groups who would benefit from a soundscape walk on a different day and time were also offered the opportunity to sign up to request a private walk.
Anybody interested in becoming an Innovation Partner to partner and provide resources to expand the impact of the Soundscapes Walk series, was able to download the Innovation Partner PDF for more information.
Positive Impact is a non for profit which for over 15 years has led the development of a sustainable event industry.
Following this mission Positive Impact became an Accelerator for the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign. In June 2022 The Race to Zero criteria was updated to require those within it to align their external engagement with the goal of halving emissions by 2030.
Positive Impact’s focus is on helping organizations develop low carbon engagement strategies in line with UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign. The soundscapes walks are an initiative to explore the role of the sound environment on how we engage with our cities, communities, and people in order to achieve the Race to Zero commitments.
100% of income generated from the soundscape walks will be used for research and creation of materials to share the learnings.
The Soundscapes walks were facilitated by:
Fiona Pelham
Fiona has over 15 years experience in the role of global events being used to enable engagement between communities and cultures.
Federico Di Fresco
Federico is a service designer with 10+ years of experience as a design strategist, user researcher, and user experience designer. As part of his MSc in Service Systems Design thesis from Aalborg University and in collaboration with Gehl Architects’ R&D team he explored and adapted service design tools and methods to facilitate soundscape thinking for city makers in order to build healthier sound environments for people in cities. Currently, he works as Senior Service Designer for the WSAudiology R&D department.
He also designed a toolkit that facilitates a shared vocabulary to research, map and sketch the experiential opportunities of the sound environment of a place from a people-first perspective. Federico has designed, recorded, and edited sound in more than 10 documentaries, feature, and short films that have been awarded or participated at international film festivals such as Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Mar del Plata, San Sebastian, La Habana and BAFICI amongst others.
