Bloomsbury Academic Urban Roar: A Psychophysical Approach to the Design of Affective Environments

Urban Roar argues for the existence of ‘autonomous affectivities’ that roar beneath the din of the urban, seeking the attention of us humans so captured by the environments of our own making. In hearing the urban roar, it is the mythic intention of this book to discover ways in which we can work with the intensities of more-than-human forces to vitalize our cities. The book explores methods by which artists, particularly those sound artists involved in fieldwork practices, might encounter and translate autonomous affectivities between different environments. Of particular interest is Jung’s concept of synchronicity and its relationship to artistic creation – as experience, flow and catalyst – in manifesting autonomous affectivities into diverse and affective environments. The book makes use of both theoretical and practical approaches: from a study of scholarship through which it is argued that an autonomous affectivity is equivalent to an archetype (via Jung) and an essence (via Deleuze’s reading of Spinoza), to theoretical considerations of the situated body in everyday contexts, to practical study of an artistic research experiment designed to reveal and index autonomous affectivities encountered during fieldwork practices, for the purpose of influencing urban design interventions. In this fresh analysis, Lacey reveals the possibilities in urban environments. Review <i>Urban Roar</i> offers compelling critical and practical approaches to sonic encounters with urban spaces, atmospheres and ambiances―intriguingly adding Félix Guattari, Carl Jung, and Indigenous knowledges to the theoretical mix. Considering how sound artists can work with more-than-human affective intensities to help us hear the urban roar, Lacey vitally re-imagines and transforms cities’ soundings.<br> --Norie Neumark, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, author of Voicetracks: Attuning to Voice in Media and the Arts (2017)“Through a series of engaging, incisive reflections, Jordan Lacey presents a multifaceted theoretical and practice-led approach to sonic ambiance and affective atmospheres. With a unique combination of affect theory, environmental philosophy and Jungian psychology, the book generates a versatile theoretical toolbox for reconsidering our relationships with the sonic environment that will be inspirational for theorists and practitioners alike – and for their future collaborations.”<br> --Ulrik Schmidt, Associate Professor of Media and Culture, Roskilde University, Denmark, author of A Philosophy of Ambient Sound: Materiality, Technology, Art and the Sonic Environment (forthcoming)“Urban agglomerations shift and transform, supposedly without cease. What is your and my role within these transformations, being dwellers and thinkers, dreamers and vulnerable groups of society? Jordan Lacey investigates these truly uncomfortable and unusual questions through the medium of sound, our felt affects, and manifold contemporary artistic practices. He arrives at a radical and very hands-on proposal that joins this ongoing transformation instead of resisting it: Lacey proposes an artistic process of translating ambiance as a way to escort and to design the ruptures cutting through our lives. A rare and surprising vision for future lives within the human habitat.”<br> --Holger Schulze, Professor of Musicology at the University of Copenhagen and Principal Investigator at the Sound Studies Lab, Denmark, editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Anthropology of Sound (2021) About the Author Jordan Lacey is a transdisciplinary creative practice researcher and research fellow in the School of Design at RMIT University, Australia, teaching creative practice research methods and sound studies. He is author of Sonic Rupture: a practice-led approach to urban soundscape design (Bloomsbury, 2016).