An exploratory study on the attitude to soundscape preservation by focus group interview

With the rapid urbanization in China, some original soundscapes, which are considered as the symbol of a city, are being changed step by step. The aim of this study is to investigate people's attitude towards soundscape preservation through a focus group discussion. Three main topics were discussed including: 1) whether people were concerned about urban soundscapes? 2) what were the characteristics of the soundscapes that were considered to be worthy of preservation? and 3) what were the desirable soundscapes in city in future? Five resident groups, altogether with 23 interviewees participated in the discussion. It was noted that almost all of the interviewees did not realize that some soundscapes in the city were changing gradually. They usually paid little attention to the urban soundscape unless the sound environment was extremely poor. According to the focus group discussion six characteristics of the soundscapes considered to have protection value were concluded in the following: 1) whether the soundscape could arouse certain memory, 2) whether the soundscape had close relationship with nature, 3) whether the soundscape had apparent peculiarity, 4) whether the soundscape could become a symbol with certain meaning, 5) whether the soundscape was harmonious with environment, and 6) whether the soundscape was helpful for mood. As for the ideal soundscapes in the future, four aspects were mostly mentioned, and they were richness, quietness, uniqueness and harmony. Higher expectations were given to the richness and quietness than the others. Those findings might give us a preliminary understanding on how to promote the protection of urban soundscape.