The Role of Music in promoting social interaction in urban streets

It entails space provision for recreation, leisure, enhance communication, social contact, experience, exposure to nature and also impact on an individual’s psychological health and physical wellbeing. These in a bunch can be all achieved by the use of music as an element of design in urban spaces. Music seems to have no direct correlation with urban design, however, like music, urban spaces are composed to a certain rhythm, use of repetition and harmony. Music in urban design can be used as a catalyst to spatial formations or a deliberate design to cope with the environment. Over the years, the role of urban spaces has been changing dramatically. It will also seek to establish the necessity to take into consideration music while designing urban places.

Lastly, it will gauge the potential of music as an element of urban design role to steer urban development. Music can be considered as a temporary art. This raises a number of questions on its influence during the time of performance. The reaction from passersby or the people present in the area can influence the perception. The literature review covers the elements that molded the urban spaces as seen through various architectural periods in history. It will focus on the urban space creation overtime as influenced by the activities that took place within the urban space. 3 It will also embark on the current influences of music on the urban geography. These influences vis a vis the people’s cultures, attitudes, organization and activities.

The chronological look will illustrate how the cultural elements at different architectural periods influenced the creation of urban spaces. 4 Later, this research will review the dynamic cultural and community organization changes that resulted in the modernism era. Modernism urban design strategies were majorly characterized by social and economic needs that were vital at the industrial revolution period. Modernism provided compact grid lock design layouts mainly guided by population, social and political realities with industrial revolution which played a key role in design of these spaces. Away from modernism, this research will review post modernism period impacts of the change of the culture and the resultant influence on the urban space organization. Modern period led to the diminishing of interaction of nature to urban fabric design and loss of artistic touch.

6 Figure 1 Music Influence on Urban Design. Source: Tracing Musical tastes in Tehran by Reza Shaker Ardekani, 2016. Figure 1 illustrates people with certain music taste identify to a certain class in a community. Such class have several inter communication ways that they use to interact forming a musical class. These classes mark occupational status groups that end up shaping the urban space. The points of music become interaction points for strangers as well as busy scenes for onlookers in buildings. Thirdly, streets serve the buildings, this makes it healthy for a continuous flow of human traffic on streets. Eyes on the streets from buildings also induce the street users to the building. This builds a cordial relationship between the building and street. This interaction may lead to spurring of urban growth.

It will also seek to establish the necessity to take into consideration music while designing urban streets. Lastly, it will gauge the potential of music as an element of urban street design role to steer urban development. Methodology The methods chosen are with the view of acquiring information on people interaction with the street, the influence of street music on urban spaces, movement patterns and dynamics as a result of music introduction and its effectiveness. This will include study of reactions, needs, behaviors and desires of urban space users in respect to music. The research methods have been outlined later within this proposal. Content, narrative, discourse and framework form of qualitative analysis will be used. 11 Precedent studies will inform the research on previous methods ways of how music has affected social interactions especially urban street.

This will enable conception of new design ideas and solutions. Images will enrich the research analysis by giving true visual account. Images ‘carry a thousand words’. The aim is to find out the kind of response evoked by the difference performance in the urban spaces. It is also to establish if there is a preferred genre of music that they resonate with more than others or the public can respond to just any kind of music. Data collected will also be analysed into notes form. Data from books and precedent studies will cite similarities, dissimilarities, direct and indirect influences of music as an element of interaction within the urban street. It will also outline desires and behaviors of people within such urban contexts.

This information doesn’t require to be tracked with time and is somewhat static. This includes the demographics of the music artist, contact information and any other data related to their profile. As for Tie Two form, it is more critical since it is relative to the history and time sensitive. This could be the day to day activities to be undertaken by a particular artist over time. This makes it more dynamic since it is prone to change every now and then. The role of street music for the ‘creative city’. [Online] Available at: http://livemusicexchange. org/blog/the-role-of-street-music-for-the-creative-city-karolina-doughty/ [Accessed 19 May 2018]. Dudovskiy, J. Research Methodology. Michèle Lamont, M. F. Cultivating Differences: Symbolic Boundaries and the Making of Inequality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.