6.15 Rhythmanalysis: a personal experience

As much as we can understand urban rhythms by listening to the experiences of others, rhythmanalysis is inherently a personal experience. Thus we each need to listen to our own rhythms in order to understand the effect of our urban environments on ourselves. So take a moment to think of the rhythm of your street and those of your everyday life: What would these rhythms sound like if you could sonify them? What would be the music of your life? Now living in London, the rhythm of my day is completely different as I find myself dependent on the bus system. The tempo of its transport rhythms can vary quite dramatically according to the traffic conditions on the day, with the overall journey ranging from 20 minutes to over an hour. Furthermore, the rhythms of the urban design elements evolve with the changing function of each street. The irregularity of these various transport, activity and urban design rhythms can be heard in my sonification of Kennington Road in Figure 6.4.39