Eduardo Sasso

Consider the word ‘electric’. Unexamined, the term undoubtedly carries positive associations. At some point, we preferred light bulbs to the fire hazard of candles, and we opted for electric heating instead of coal-burning chimneys. Now, ponder a meme featuring an urban sticker that reads: “Ditch electric vehicles / Build trains”.

“The obsession with shareholder value has turned businesses into soulless money machines. . . . Sustainability goals and public statements should be aggressive enough to make everyone nervous.”—Paul Polman, CEO Unilever (2009-2019) The most famous scene in the now classic film A Few Good Men is perhaps all too well known: Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise, shouts at the colonel played by Jack Nicholson.

The term may sound new to you, as it did to me. A ‘soundscape’ is the equivalent of a ‘landscape’ but related to the invisible dimension of vibrations. Just as there are pleasant and unpleasant sights when it comes to perceiving the beauty or ugliness of a landscape, so too when it comes to the world of sound. The word goes back at least to an MIT grad and city planner by the name of Michael Southworth, who reportedly first coined the term ‘soundscape’ already in 1969.