Acoustic City

Acoustic City is an initiative of Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture, which is intended to reach far beyond the year 2009 to promote a conscious design of our audible environment in keeping with human dignity. It is based on the conviction that human beings are touched and influenced to the core by what they hear. For this reason, Acoustic City is committed to promoting an acoustic environment appropriate for human beings.

With the Linz Charter as a guideline for urban planning in an acoustic sense, Beschallungsfrei – The Campaign Against Imposed Noise, and the Akustikon as a world of hearing in the center of Linz, Acoustic City establishes three points of crystallization for an increased acoustic awareness in the arrangement of personal life, in politics, in the world of work and everyday life, in architecture and urban development, in zoning and traffic planning.

Acoustic City manifests itself from 29 November 2008 until No Music Day on 21 November 2009. After that, the Akustikon in Linz takes over advocacy for hearing.

The Linz Charta

The Linz Charta is intended to serve as a pointer on the road to a – at present admittedely utopian – European model city. It defines aims and values that will be decisive in acoustic terms for the direction of Linz’s future evolution. In September 2008 the Linz Charta was submitted to the planning committee of the city parliament and will be the basis of a process of opinion forming, which will culminate in a resolution which will be voted on in January 2009.