The listening in the contemporary city. Theoretical approaches

The present article sets out different theoretical approaches around the sound and the act of listening in the contemporary city as well as the processes of production and significance of the city through the mentioned act. The central goal of this writing is to contribute to the interdisciplinary discussions about the coupling of sound/ listening in the field of urban studies since the aforementioned dissertations are still scarce in the Latin American context. To this effect, firstly, listening as an epistemic means by which the city is learned is discussed. Afterwards, some implications about different global processes in the urbanites’ aural practices are analyzed. Lastly, the necessity of appealing to citizen’s listening as an essential element to consider throughout the planning, construction, remodeling and the plans of territorial restructuring as well as in every physical and symbolic transformation of the city is presented. In this context some theoretical premises about the experimentation of the public space through hearing, being aware of the sound as a component that allows an appropriation and significance of the space as well as an element of social cohesion and generator of identities are analyzed