1229 | 39 | The potential of Research-Creation in urban research

In this presentation I will draw from a Research-Creation project developed in Montreal in the framework of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship throughout 2021 and 2022. Focusing on the sonic dimension of the Montreal’s entertainment neighborhood – the Quartier des Spectacles (QDS) – the project has experimented sound-oriented, qualitative, participatory and creative approaches to inform urban studies. The aim was to address the neighborhood’s rapid transformations, and more specifically the challenging balance between its attractiveness, livability and inclusiveness, especially due to the growing touristification of the area and the problematic effects of the pandemic-related restrictions to public space uses. _x000D_
 I will thus illustrate the methodology used for the project, which encompassed in-person field recordings, participatory workshops (focus groups and listening sessions) involving residents, workers and city users around QDS, and a final sound installation that took place in ‘Place de la Paix’ – a small square located in the hearth of the neighborhood. In particular, I will emphasize how the field recordings were key to the urban investigation, as well as to trigger conversations with the workshops’ participants, and finally to the composition of the sound installation, which followed a collaborative guideline drafted over the workshops.  _x000D_
Building on the results of the project, I will ultimately argue for the potentials of Research-Creation within geography, planning research and urban policy analysis and design, particularly on issues of social inclusiveness within urban areas undergoing dramatic transformations.

Nicola Di Croce
Università Iuav di Venezia

ID Abstract: 39

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