Individual Write-Up

Union square is one of the main parks in New York city.  It has 14th street on its south side, union square west on its west side, 17th street on the north, and east union square on the east. The park links the main avenues broadway and park. Nonetheless it is a popular place where people go to do a variety of things. Interestingly, everyone who goes to the park goes there with a different intention. According to my research on the history of the park, it is mainly used for recreational purposes, propaganda, performing, and commerce. However, as I went to the park and studied it through sound I asked myself: How does the sound distribution in union square define the purpose of its visitors?

At the beginning, me and my group divided the park into 8 different sections, each with their own particular sounds. These sections included: the subway, the dog park, the playground, the sitting/social area, the music/musicians area, the market area, and the surrounding streets. After recording our data we found that each had its main sound. When I visited the park for a second time, I decided to add an eighth section which was the middle part of the park. There was no particular sound, but it was a mixture of its surroundings. Not to mention, it was the quietest section in the park. Most importantly, I discovered that there were different levels of noise depending on the section.

After doing further investigation on each section I decided to narrow down my data by creating a range of volumes (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest). It came to my attention why one section had more noise than another. This brought up the idea that ultimately every person in the park is there for a particular reason, whether it is to play music, have lunch, to relax, or buy to something in the market. With that being said, the park’s noise distribution ultimately defines the public’s purpose for being there. An example could be the music section which has a very high noise level compared to other sections. This means that if we were to compare the volume of this area (9) to a section of 5 or below, we will find that it is an area where people aim to be entertained as opposed to relaxed in a lower volume section section.

I personally learned that sound, like other senses can give us solid answers . In this case I found that the sound distribution in union square could define the public’s purpose in being in the park. That way, by simply listening we are able to unravel why people are in a specific area.