ABSTRACT

On a listening walk in Edinburgh, Scotland, Michael Gallagher and Jonathan Prior introduce us to a mode of walking in which listening to the sounds of spaces is the focus. While listening walks have been posited as a means of producing research data about perceived soundscape quality, ‘Listening Walks: A Method of Multiplicity’, considers the potential of listening walks to act as a research method and pedagogic tool, through which pedestrian sounds, snatches of conversation, and the drone of heavy traffic bring to attention the geographies of everyday life. The chapters shows that listening walks provide us with an endlessly repeatable and adaptable method that can address a much broader range of research questions, and be utilised within a variety of teaching settings.