Resident Frequencies
Tuning into a space or place through sound
Lexicon
RESIDENTS: Who are the stakeholders, constituents, locals that were or will be affected by the event or development alongside attendees.
PRECINCT: Defining the borders and parameters engaged and effected by the event/development, was there an area that really worked.
TRANSMITTERS: Who are the people still talking about it, what are they saying? (positive/negative insights)
DIALECT: Have people understood the language and intention of the event/development?
FREQUENCIES: What is the legacy that you can tune back into and use as inspiration for the next edition?
Format
Resident Frequencies is a new type of Social Broadcast that enables architects and place makers to tune into the spaces they nurture and create or events/projects that disrupt a community. As experts in using audio to understand and interrogate the local in a unique way, we have too often noticed that the effort, care and investment that goes into place and event making is often unable to capture and distil the signals, voices, chatter and feedback that surround the space before or after it is created.
Resident Frequencies offers a way to resolve this by capturing the audio footprint that is invariably generated, but rarely tuned into and heard.
Sitting perfectly alongside and complementing social media, this Social Broadcast is a way for all involved to congregate around a shared audio encounter that can be used for evaluation, insight, legacy, pitching and future planning resourcing. When you tune into your Resident Frequency it is as if the neighbourhood or place was talking back to you.
Research
Working with architects
The research and development of Resident Frequencies as a simple and effective tool for event curators and place makers has been inspired by recent commissions by The V&A Micro-Museum (a sound installation recordings made of local residents past and present is used to explore the future of The Lansbury Estate) and Cambridge City Council/The Cambridge Junction to investigate the sense of community in a newly regenerated neighbourhood in the city.
We have worked closely with the multi-disciplinary architecture practice The Decorators to further develop ‘Resident Frequencies’ as a way to listen to and engage residents in areas under development and redevelopment.
> Barking and Dagenham (Barking Riverside Development) understanding resident’s relationship with the River Thames and how this can be developed further.
We facilitated and produced live radio events, podcast workshops, recordings with residents, listening buffets and made an audio way-finding tour with residents.
> Limehouse Basin (Heritage Lottery Fund) - How can the Limehouse Basin could become a more ‘Public’ Space.
We identified local community hubs in the area local and recorded 20 research interviews with people connected to these hubs to understand their relationship with the local area and its residents. Hosted live radio events at the Limehouse Basin Market and facilitated a field recording workshop around the basin.
> Queen Crescent Market working with The Decorators and East Architecture to improve a market street it Camden. We facilitated 4 open radio discussion shows at the local library and created a 4 part audio series from interviews with local residents and business owners. this was available via a listening booth at the local library.
> Shape Newham an ambitions public art and public space initiative across Newham with AOC, Carver haggard, Office S&M and Local Works Studio. Social Broadcasts designed a public engagement research strategy to understand local residents’ relationship with public realm through 40 audio interviews, radio making workshops and public town hall events. (Full description here)
