Gentrify This

Let us start by making things clear right away, this is not a scientific work. It needs to be said so as not to give the idea it is a work based on a sequence of audio data extrapolated and compared for the purpose of being able to draw conclusions that are universalistic in nature or from which some kind of scientific certainty can otherwise be inferred.

This is not the case here. The reason for this lies in the fact that the workshop experience was limited (deliberately and for reasons of expediency) to a time span of only 6 hours, and like all phenomena that change over time, the analysis of the soundscape of this area would have required several “stakeouts” repeated over days and days, months, seasons, years, and so on. In fact, only in this way would it have been possible to carry out a comparison that was substantial from a quantitative point of view and qualitatively meaningful in order to discern any differences and fluctuations between the archived data (the sound recordings).

What was achieved, however, served to open a debate among the participants and a reflection on the very broad topic of gentrification in large cities with a more attentive focus on the element of the soundscape; a phenomenon, this one of gentrification, that does not proceed in a linear fashion but, in any case, advances inexorably.

The phenomenology of recorded events would seem to suggest that the issue can be approached by dividing it into two main themes:

On the one hand, the mere acoustic issue, where the dynamic dimension of what was originally a vast area of pine trees, hence its name (pigneto precisely), is clearly crushed by the typical “low-fidelity” configuration of these cluttered metropolises, where the signal-to-noise ratio tends to flatten out, crushing the dynamics and giving us a continuous background buzz, a “tonic,” as Schafer puts it, that one would gladly do without because it is always insidious to the human ear and limits our ability to distinguish weaker sounds below a certain threshold in decibels. Perhaps it goes without saying to reiterate this but we are obviously talking about noise pollution.

On the other hand, it is to consider the more anthropological issue and the social dimension of the gentrification phenomenon that manifests itself here in a curious Leopardesque mix made up of accounts of people and characters currently living in the neighborhood, outlining a difficult coexistence encapsulated within the testimonies collected.

In short, it seems that the exponential growth of commercial activities, the building speculation linked to the increase in tourism, have not completely wiped out the pre-existing dynamics of life, but have nevertheless dealt a very hard blow to the social and urban structure of an originally working-class neighborhood to which capitalism slowly tries, year after year, to change the intended use, evidently succeeding.

Line C of the Rome Metro was built in part with the aim of revitalizing working-class neighborhoods located in the eastern suburbs of the city. The line should improve the mobility and accessibility of these neighborhoods, making them more attractive to tourists and new residents. However, some experts fear that the construction of the C line may accelerate the gentrification process in these neighborhoods, exacerbating existing social inequalities.

As we walked down the stairs to the entrance of the metro inevitably my thoughts went back 11 years, when I was struggling with the making of Metrophony a record focused entirely on the soundscape of the metro B section of Rome, at the time the C was still under construction. The record had purely experimental value for me, yet I was able to detect an element of static in a context of apparent dynamism (such as the interior of a subway car might sound like). A continuous tonic hovered throughout the 40-minute track, made up of puffs, the sound of rails, automatic doors opening, people’s voices in the background; examining the context more deeply, it was clear how the dynamic elements were constantly repeating themselves, effectively nullifying their changing nature to bend to a logic characterized by an almost robotic precision, with factory conveyor belt timing. The thought goes directly to “Un pezzo, un culo” to quote the legendary Gian Maria Volontè in “The Working Class Goes to Heaven.”

Personal digression aside, the reflection that I would like to point out is that large industrial works within the urbe bring inevitable disastrous consequences from an acoustic point of view, as well as in relation to the annexes and annexes of gentrification from a social point of view.

Is this not, however, the crux of the issue of gentrification? An initial and only apparent improvement, a classist gentrification that improves the services of an area in an instrumental way with speculative intent planned but unveiled little by little so that those who live in the neighborhood become aware of it when the fact is accomplished.