Unicauca students carry out research on soundscape in Italy

Carlos Durán, Juan Martín Paz and Ángela Romero participated from February 7 to 21, 2023 in Venice (Italy) in the Urbanphony project for the measurement and perception of the urban sounds of the city during the Winter Carnival.

The students Carlos Durán, from Physical Engineering; Juan Martín Paz and Ángela Romero, from Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications participated in the Urbanphony project in Venice (Italy) for the measurement and perception of the urban sounds of the city during the Winter Carnival, from February 7 to 21, 2023. The process pioneer unites data from Popayán (Colombia), Venice (Italy) and Santiago de Compostela (Spain) through Artificial Intelligence techniques and geospatial applications to improve the urban sustainability of cities from the understanding of sound.

The project, called "Spatiotemporal Variability of the Urban Sound Landscape", directed and led by the architect and researcher Julián Grijalba, from the Center for Urban Studies of the Colegio Mayor del Cauca, and supported by AESS Unicauca in the technological components, is a transcontinental comparison between Venice (Italy) and Popayán (Colombia) within the Sound Landscaping, which is a field of Sustainable Urbanism that is dedicated to the contemplation and understanding of sound in the holistic context of populations. The environment, social, cultural and commercial activities, among many factors, can influence the sound quality of a population, with special care in cities, where tourism, traffic and the various dynamics of daily life can influence a perception positive quality of life.

The students toured the city of Venice from February 7 to 21, 2023, during the famous Winter Carnival, a period that represents a maximum influx in the city, to take sound samples and sonometric measurements of the noise present. The data is collected within an urban mesh of 100 points during two days to carry out a sound mapping. In previous work, the young people created a sound classification system with data taken from Popayán, a development that will be used for future urban planning solutions, and was presented at the 2022 Virtual City and Territory International Congress of the Tadeo Lozano University.

During 2022, another participation of the working group was also carried out in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), on the occasion of Holy Week, from April 10 to 16, a process accompanied by Camilo Segura, Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications student, and thanks with the support of Professor Francisco Pino. Likewise, the process has had the support of the Geography of Regional and Environmental Development student, Paula Grijalba, and the Physics Engineering graduate, Michell García in a set of measurements carried out on the Puracé volcano, data acquisition that includes the study of sound in rural areas and high mountains.

The Urbanphony, Mantra and AESS Unicauca teams, dedicated to the study of sound in the urban context of the city and the use of technology, continue various interdisciplinary sound research and promotion processes and invite more young people to participate from different disciplines of the university in improving the quality of life in our cities.

More Info:

Student Carlos Duran

Email: caduran@unicauca.edu.co