ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the most significant stages according to which music has taken possession of urban sounds, a process that embraces the entire twentieth century, from the introduction of noise into music with the Futurists to John Cage's aesthetical practice of listening to the environment. It considers the intrinsic relationship between sound and space. Representative solutions about specific sound parameters that may be manipulated in order to modify our perception of the environment are illustrated. The case studies presented as examples belong to recent decades, in which the visual arts and music have explored outdoor areas, looking for new performance spaces. The book also considers the opportunity for architecture to learn to master the surrounding aural context. It evaluates how to proceed in analyzing and planning urban spaces by reconstructing criteria elaborated in research centers specialized in soundscape studies.
