2026-09-21T17:31:59Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1623062025-08-12T03:06:54Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Knox-Hayes, Janelle
Makris, Nicholas
Navarro, Cadine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
2025-08-11T14:17:27Z
2025-08-11T14:17:27Z
2025-05
2025-06-05T13:45:03.506Z
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/162306
Seeds, the “abominable mystery” (Darwin, 1897), hold our past and potential future. They also hold sound. Much like cities, they are sites of growth, transformation, and resilience. This thesis draws parallels between laboratory research on the sensing capacities of seeds and embodied experiences of sensing within urban landscapes, exploring how living systems interact with sound and vibration. Through both scientific and poetic approaches, it examines how seeds respond to sonic environments and how this sensitivity can inform human engagement with acoustics in the urban context. The investigation of intangible forces, vibration, resonance, and sound reveals a shared responsiveness between seeds and cities, documented through graphs, sound spectra, and reflective narratives that bridge science and art. Focusing on sound as a strategic lens, this work brings attention to often-overlooked sensory domains, inspiring a more ecologically and socially responsive urbanism. Ultimately, it advocates for practices of deeper listening as a method to engage openly and imaginatively with human and nonhuman worlds, and to reimagine urban environments as spaces of attunement, dialogue, and co-existence.
S.M.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Copyright retained by author(s)
https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/
City as Seed: The Urban Resonance Field and the Case for Sonic Awareness in Ecological Renewal
Thesis
application/pdf
Master
Master of Science in Urban Studies and Planning
Publication
unknown
unknown
<Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="52e2f40f-6c48-462d-adc5-6c78360a78fa">
<Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type>
<Title>City as Seed: The Urban Resonance Field and the Case for Sonic Awareness in Ecological Renewal</Title>
<PublishedIn>
<Publication>
</Publication>
</PublishedIn>
<PublicationDate>2025-05</PublicationDate>
<Authors>
<Author>
<DisplayName>Navarro, Cadine</DisplayName>
<Affiliation>
<OrgUnit>
</OrgUnit>
</Affiliation>
</Author>
</Authors>
<Editors>
</Editors>
<Publishers>
<Publisher>
<DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName>
<OrgUnit />
</Publisher>
</Publishers>
<License>https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/</License>
<Abstract>Seeds, the “abominable mystery” (Darwin, 1897), hold our past and potential future. They also hold sound. Much like cities, they are sites of growth, transformation, and resilience. This thesis draws parallels between laboratory research on the sensing capacities of seeds and embodied experiences of sensing within urban landscapes, exploring how living systems interact with sound and vibration. Through both scientific and poetic approaches, it examines how seeds respond to sonic environments and how this sensitivity can inform human engagement with acoustics in the urban context. The investigation of intangible forces, vibration, resonance, and sound reveals a shared responsiveness between seeds and cities, documented through graphs, sound spectra, and reflective narratives that bridge science and art. Focusing on sound as a strategic lens, this work brings attention to often-overlooked sensory domains, inspiring a more ecologically and socially responsive urbanism. Ultimately, it advocates for practices of deeper listening as a method to engage openly and imaginatively with human and nonhuman worlds, and to reimagine urban environments as spaces of attunement, dialogue, and co-existence.</Abstract>
<Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right"
>
</Access>
</Publication>