Parks play a crucial role in urban life. Examples of the benefits of green urban spaces include; increased biodiversity and air quality improvement, provide a public space that promotes cultural and social cohesion, as well as physical and mental health benefits. Urban parks offer city dwellers a natural environment that provides respite from the city, allowing relaxation and mental rejuvenation. Sound plays a key role in this, as the natural sounds of birdsong, rustling trees, flowing water etc. have been shown reduce stress and provide a sonic escape from the noise polluted urban environment. However, a 2018 study by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) shows that around a third of London’s parks are severely impacted by traffic noise, meaning 50-100% of the park is affected by traffic noise louder than 55db. This is clearly problematic. While reading a study from a group of architects in Korea, I discovered that “congruence between sound and visual images influence the perception of environmental quality in urban green space;” 

Because of this, I think parks in the centre of London would be the optimal location for my field recordings as this environment can easily show the contrasts of the natural and urban, providing material to expose the invasion of ever-present urban noise.