Acoustic Design in Urban Development : analysis of urban soundscapes and acoustic ecology research in New York City

The world is urbanizing rapidly with more than half of the global population now living in cities. Improving urban environments for the well-being of the increasing number of urban citizens is becoming one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Even though it is common that city planners have visions of a ’good urban milieu’, those visions are concerning visual aesthetics or practical matters. The qualitative perspective of sound, such as sonic diversity and acoustic ecology are neglected aspects in architectural design. Urban planners and politicians are therefore largely unaware of the importance of sounds for the intrinsic quality of a place. Whenever environmental acoustics is on the agenda, the topic is noise abatement or noise legislation – a quantitative attenuation of sounds. Some architects may involve acoustical aspects in their work but sound design or acoustic design has yet to develop to a distinct discipline and be incorporated in urban planning.My aim was to investigate to what extent the urban soundscape is likely to improve if modern architectural techniques merge with principles of acoustics. This is an important, yet unexplored, research area. My study explores and analyses the acoustical aspects in urban development and includes interviews with practitioners in the field of urban acoustics, situated in New York City. My conclusion is that to achieve a better understanding of the human living conditions in mega-cities, there is a need to include sonic components into the holistic sense of urban development.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva entre dois mundos: uma análise de notícias do New York Times

Este trabalho analisa um conjunto de notícias publicadas pelo The New York Times , versão on-line, que aborda a presença do presidente do Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no Fórum Social Mundial em Porto Alegre, Brasil, e no Fórum Econômico Mundial em Davos, Suíça, em janeiro de 2003. Baseando-se no referencial teórico-metodológico da Análise Crítica do Discurso - Bell e Garrett (1998), Fairclough (1995 e 2001) e Fowler (1991) -, investigam-se as estratégias discursivas utilizadas pelo jornal para referir-se ao presidente brasileiro participando de dois eventos de repercussão internacional, que representam pólos ideológicos opostos.

Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC): new biregional trade and investment relations in a changing world economic environment$c

Includes bibliography

Finding solutions to the debt problems of developing countries: report of the Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (New York, 20 May 1999)

Includes bibliography

Globalization and the new international trade environment

Includes bibliography

Report of the First Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Co-operation Committee, New York, 29 March 1989

Contiene los estatutos de implementación de las resoluciones de la undécima sesión del CDCC incluyendo las recomendaciones propuestas por el Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores y Comercio Internacional de Trinidad y Tabago.

Informe de la Reunión Interinstitucional para Coordinar la Ejecución del Programa de Trabajo del CDCC, Nueva York, 28-30 junio 1976 = UN Inter-Agency Meeting on Co-ordination for Implementation of the Work Programme of the CDCC, New York, 28-30 June 1976

El símbolo ECLA/POS/76/10 corresponde al documento en inglés solamente