LimerickSoundscapes is a sound-mapping project that seeks to critically
engage citizens of a multi-cultural, socially and economically divided,
post-industrial City of Limerick, in the Republic of Ireland. Facilitated by an interdisciplinary team
located in the local university, citizens from all walks of life are encouraged
to traverse the city, using hand-held recorders to capture a vast array of sounds
which are subsequently uploaded onto an interactive website. Initially, we locate the project within the
historical, geographical, and economic context of a city currently
‘undergoing’ a state- sponsored programme of urban regeneration. The project is also understood in terms of to top-down and
bottom-up cultural initiatives, particularly in relation to Limerick’s designation
as National City of Culture, 2014. As
well as looking at how LimerickSoundscapes
was conceived and realised through a pilot programme in 2013, we hone in
specifically on two members of two local participating organisations. Through the activities and experiences of
these two volunteer recordists, we illustrate how soundscapes generation in
Limerick is as much focussed on engagement and on building social relations as
it is on producing a finished product that seeks to sonically and culturally
represent the city. While clearly tied to
Limerick City, we would argue that LimerickSoundscapes
models an new approach not just to urban soundscape generation, but also to
urban social regeneration that could
be duplicated elsewhere. Such projects
may have the capacity to promote real diversity and a critical and participatory
citizenship, through shared, creative goals and a dialogic of doing.