Stereopublic: crowdsourcing the quiet

With over half of the world’s population living in cities, urbanists have identified, for health and wellbeing purposes, the importance of sites of quiet space in city planning. Within the field of acoustic ecology, this project aimed to find out if participatory media methods could help urban dwellers to identify, engage with and find value in quiet city spaces. A transmedia work, ‘Stereopublic: crowdsourcing the quiet’ assists those living and working in the city to seek quiet amongst noise and people, thus facilitating healthier lifestyles. Stereopublic is a participatory, transmedia work and includes an iPhone app, a website, interactive maps, videos, sonic compositions, public performances and walking tours. The work is pitched as a ‘sonic health service’ for cities. Co-created by a global community of quiet seekers, the researcher – as creative producer – oversaw the design and delivery of a participatory, transmedia system facilitating broad participation that would lead to a solution to the research question. Through various production activities, including, Stereopublic enabled global contributors to create a quiet portrait of cities. The project was active in 50 cities internationally and 1000 quiet locations were submitted.