Abstract
Ecological soundscapes, once primarily regarded as carriers of environmental information, are increasingly understood as immersive, embodied experiences that offer experiential and ontological access to more-than-human worlds. Situated within the framework of more-than-human design, this research challenges anthropocentric paradigms by foregrounding ecological soundscapes as dynamic, sentient agencies that convey environmental meaning and social structures among non-human species. Through field-based, autoethnographic inquiry on crow vocal is ation in Vienna, the project 1) articulates a hybrid methodological approach combining deep listening, soundscape walks, and bio acoustic analysis; and 2) establishes a sonification process that translates the data from the multispecies ethnographic research into three immersive experience installations - Under the Shade, Chorus in the Winter and Urban Grotto. The outcomes strip away human languages and use avian vocal is ation as the primary mode of expression. The relevance of these design implementations lies in experimenting with how embodied soundscape perception within different urban and public spaces may foster empathy, ecological awareness, and alternative knowledge transmission. Grounded in a Research through Design (RtD) process, the project articulates a bio semi otic design methodology that reframes the role of the human listener as an embedded participant in a multispecies network of perception, memory, and trust. The findings suggest that soundscape-driven design offers new pathways for engaging the public with ecological systems and for reconfiguring inter species relationships through embodied sonic experience.
Keywords
Multispecies ethnography; Biosemiotic methodology; Ecological soundscape experience; More-than-human communication
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1149
Citation
Zhang, Q.,and Valsecchi, F.(2025) Avian Experience in Urban Grotto: Ecological Soundscapes as a Biosemiotic Methodology in Multispecies Ethnographic Research and More-than-human Communication, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1149
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 1 - More Than Human-centered Design
Avian Experience in Urban Grotto: Ecological Soundscapes as a Biosemiotic Methodology in Multispecies Ethnographic Research and More-than-human Communication
Ecological soundscapes, once primarily regarded as carriers of environmental information, are increasingly understood as immersive, embodied experiences that offer experiential and ontological access to more-than-human worlds. Situated within the framework of more-than-human design, this research challenges anthropocentric paradigms by foregrounding ecological soundscapes as dynamic, sentient agencies that convey environmental meaning and social structures among non-human species. Through field-based, autoethnographic inquiry on crow vocal is ation in Vienna, the project 1) articulates a hybrid methodological approach combining deep listening, soundscape walks, and bio acoustic analysis; and 2) establishes a sonification process that translates the data from the multispecies ethnographic research into three immersive experience installations - Under the Shade, Chorus in the Winter and Urban Grotto. The outcomes strip away human languages and use avian vocal is ation as the primary mode of expression. The relevance of these design implementations lies in experimenting with how embodied soundscape perception within different urban and public spaces may foster empathy, ecological awareness, and alternative knowledge transmission. Grounded in a Research through Design (RtD) process, the project articulates a bio semi otic design methodology that reframes the role of the human listener as an embedded participant in a multispecies network of perception, memory, and trust. The findings suggest that soundscape-driven design offers new pathways for engaging the public with ecological systems and for reconfiguring inter species relationships through embodied sonic experience.