Sounding Urban Places 


Sounding The Binckhorst


 



 


 View on the Binckhorst. Photo by Renate Zentschnig  

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

This webpage provides links to information and documentation about the Dutch part of the research project Sounding Urban Places (2024 - 2025), which took place in the Binckhorst area of The Hague, as part of a collaboration between the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, Luleå University of Technology, Leiden University, Soundtrackcity, I'm Binck and Kluster.

For more context, aims and strategies of the project, see this excerpt from the research proposal, as submitted to the call 'Building transformation capacity through arts and design: unlocking the full potential for urban transitions' (Horizon 2020 / ERA-NET - ENUTC). 

This page is intended solely for documentation, archiving and reporting purposes. More information about the research project as a whole will be published on the Sound Studies Centre website. In the course of 2026, an issue of the Journal of Sonic Studies will be published that is exclusively dedicated to Sounding Urban Places, including results from the research activities in Kiruna (SWE) and The Hague (NL).

Sounding Urban Places was co-financed by Regieorgaan SIA, part of the NWO.

ACTIVITIES

 

 

Interviews

Eight in-depth interviews were made with residents, local entrepreneurs, engaged citizens and professionals active in the Binckhorst. The interview method consisted of an original combination of soundwalking, situated listening and stimulated recall, and semi-structured questions. Fragments and analyses of the interviews have been integrated into an audio paper that will be published in the Journal of Sonic Studies in 2026, and in the audioroute SoundUP - Luister naar de Binckhorst.

 

Soundwalks and workshops

Seven workshops in collaboration with John Dewey College, four workshops with Royal Conservatoire students, two listening walks and one field recording workshop for the general public were organised in the Binckhorst. Throughout these activities, local residents, commuters, art students, schoolchildren and teachers were invited to engage critically and creatively with the sounds of the Binckhorst and reflect on its sonic future.

 

Audio Streams and Radio shows

As a form of experimentation with live audio mapping, a streaming mic was set up at different locations over the whole area of De Binckhorst to "live broadcast" sounds. From November 2024 to July 2025, audiostreams were broadcasted almost on a weekly basis, with the participation of Bug Radio, a local web radio. More information about this project can be found here.

  

School Project

From February to March 2025 seven workshops were organised on environmental listening, field recording and composition in collaboration with a local secondary school, the John Dewey College. Fifty-six pupils aged 12 and 13 took part in these workshops. The pupils' creations were uploaded to the Soundupmap, and the analysis and evaluation of the workshop results led to the development of an educational guide that can be used by teachers and educators in and outside the Binckhorst.

 

Presentations & Events

The Binckhorst research team presented the ongoing research several times at community events in the Binckhorst, such as at 'Binck Network meetings' and the 'Binckmarkt'. In addition, provisional research results have also been presented at symposia and conferences:


  • 24 January 2024: Presentation at symposium 'Funding For Research', The Hague
  • 02 February 2024: Project presentation at Lectorate Event, Royal Conservatoire The Hague
  • November 2024 - July 2025: live audio streams in collaboration with Bug radio
  • 16 April 2025 Concert with compositions based on sounds of the Binckhorst by nine Sonology and ArtScience students, The Hague
  • 3-4 May 2025: participation in Reveil 2025 with a 25-hour live stream from the Binckhorst
  • 12 June 2025: Sounding Urban Places Study Day at The Besturing, The Hague
  • 24 June 2025: Presentation at the conference Euronoise 2025/Forum Acousticum, Malaga 
  • 18 September 2025: Pitch presentation at ENUTC Grande Finale, Bucharest
  • 14 November 2025: Project presentation at the Joint Research Day, Royal Conservatoire The Hague
  • 20 November 2025: SIA Congress, Impacthub 

  

RESULTS

 

 

Soundupmap 

This interactive and participatory online platform provides access to an archive of field recordings created in the Binckhorst by Justin Bennett and students in 2012, and more recent recordings from field recording workshops, school projects and audio streams. The plaform is also free for users to upload new recorded environmental sounds. As such, it creates a connection between the sounding past and present of the Binckhorst and makes sonic transformations audible.

 

Conference Paper

'The Sonic (re)design of urban places: Auditory Transformations in The Hague (NL) and Kiruna (SWE)'

authors: M. Cobussen, S. Östersjö, P. Craenen, J. Bennett, R. Zentschnig, I. Ruipérez Canales, J. Berg

Paper presented at Euronoise 2025/Forum Acusticum.

 

Audio Paper

'Listening to the Binckhorst'

authors: J. Bennett, R. Zentschnig

Multimedia paper with excerpts from interviews, field recordings, and pictures from the Binckhorst, with final reflections and general conclusions.

 

White Paper

'Listening to Urban Transformation. Well-being through sound-conscious and arts-based approaches'

authors: M. Cobussen, S. Östersjö, P. Craenen

Recommendations on sound-conscious approaches for urban planners and policy makers, based on findings of the research project.

 

Audioroute The Binckhorst

SoundUP - Luister naar de Binckhorst places interview fragments with spoken texts and archive sounds in the Binckhorst itself. Listeners with a smartphone can use the "TRACKS" app to listen to the sounds as they walk around the area. The sounds are triggered by the listener's location.

 

Educational guide

'SoundUP! The neighborhood as a concert hall'

author: I. Ruipérez Canales

Sound UP! is a practical and reflective guide for educators and artists who wish to work creatively and reflectively with sound and listening in educational settings. The guide is the result of workshops in collaboration with the John Dewey College between February and May 2025. The seven chapters translate artistic and theoretical insights from the research project into concrete educational activities specifically designed for adolescents. It approaches listening not only as a musical skill but as a social, cultural, and cognitive practice through which students can better understand their relationship with their surroundings.