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Acknowledgements
The effect of a music performance on people’s perceptions on the quality of public space, .
Vivian Doumpa Student number: 3764532 [email protected]
Utrecht, The Netherlands August 2012
Master Thesis GEO4-3313 Urban Geography Department of Human Geography Faculty of Geosciences Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Cover Picture: Quino Supervisor: Dr. Brian Doucet
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements My grandfather bought me a piano at the age of four, to become a musician. And I did. My father bought me LEGOs at the age of five to build cities and become an architect. And, again I did (sort of). Since then, and despite what other people say that my two passions cannot be combined, I managed to prove them wrong and find ways to research their –for me very clear- interactions and negotiations. This thesis is the outcome of an inquiry I have had for a very long time. Judging from my own experience I have always felt that there is a connection between the way I perceive and engage with public space and the presence of street musicians on the spot. The experience of walking in the medieval city of Barcelona and around almost every corner discovering a street musician is one of the strongest memories that I have of my visit back then. Similar relations of places and music events come up to my mind the more I try to recall of my experiences in the public realm of any city. As a result, when I got the chance to familiarize myself with theoretical approaches towards urban experience and perception during my classes of MSc. in Urban Geography I was sure what my thesis was going to research. Another thing that I was also sure about was that I wanted to do research in my hometown, Thessaloniki. Though it might be negative for a researcher to be focused only on one city, I have to admit that the more I dig in the history and culture of Thessaloniki, the more interest I find and the more passionate I get to reveal every aspect of this city. My decision to research especially the Navarinou Square was not a random one. It is a square that I have been observing for many years; the different kinds of people, the two huge sycamore trees, the young people hanging out, the lovely stray dogs, the children playing and from time to time people playing music, in its most simple form; just a guitar. When I made all these connections of my interests and my passions in my mind I decided on my theme and on my case study. However, had it not been for some people who helped me structure and organize my thoughts as well as to collect the data, I wouldn’t have been able to complete this research. First of all, I would like to thank Brian Doucet, my thesis supervisor, for his structured and inspirational guidance, for his tolerance to my deluge of questions and his supportive and enlightening answers. Also Dr. Irina van Aalst, who gave me a very supporting and helpful feedback during my thesis’ mid-term presentation. Moreover I would like to express my gratitude for their feedback, support but most of all friendship to Nezihan Asvaroglu, Louise Massart and Maja Olszewska, as well as to all my co-students from Universiteit Utrecht who helped me a lot to feel as home. This research would not have been completed without the help of my very talented friends Chris Kosides, Yiannis Vakaloudis and Kostas Vaporidis who tolerated the burning sun of May (and me) and performed their magical swinging tunes for me and my research. I awe you the most! Christianna Vei and Efi Votsou, my sisters, I don’t know what I would have done without you. Thanks for helping me with the data collection and with your scientific reflection on musicological themes and issues of addressing questions in interviews. What is more, I would like to thank Tassos Vogiatzis for his help on issues of cognition and cognitive linguistics and Angelos Angelidis for his perspective on issues of psychology related to my subject. Athina Christaki, my “pro”, thanks for helping me once again! The support of all my friends and family in Greece is something that I will never forget. Thanks for being there. And of course, thanks dad and grandpa for providing me with my first tools! Last but definitely not least I would like to thank Aris Stathis for tolerating my high temper every time I had to listen again and again the interview recordings, for making me coffees every time I had to study through the night and for hugging me every time I wanted to give up.
Vivian Doumpa, August 2012
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary Urban planners and policy makers recently seek for solutions for the revitalization and regeneration of dead public spaces through creative practices. Public art is considered to be the main way of bring life back to the public realm. However, there seems to be a neglect of the processes which make public art efficient in this process. The perceptions and experiences constructed by similar practices are considered to be the explanation behind the success of art-guided revitalization projects. The aim of this research is to reflect on a specific mode of public art towards its effect on the perceptions and experiences on the quality of public space. This form of public art is music in public space, or else street music. This aim will be achieved by answering the main research question: - To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the quality of a public space? Public music performance is argued to be more efficient than other forms of public art in constructing perceptions and experiences, as it has the ability to transfer emotions and feelings in a more direct and intensive way (Coburn, 2002). In order to evaluate the effect of music on perceptions and experiences related to the quality of public space, four main attributes are identified and translated in research sub-questions. These qualities are sense of comfort, sense of community and sociability, accessibility and uses of the public space (Project for Public Spaces, 2012). By reflecting the effect of a public music performance on the perceptions constructed for each qualitative attribute, it is possible to relate spatial practices with the lived and conceived spaces of the public realm (Lefebvre, 1991). In order to negotiate these sub-questions on a theoretical level, approaches related to the production of –public- space (Lefebvre, 1991) and the construction of experiences (Tuan, 1977) have been called and used as the cornerstones of the theoretical framework. Moreover, additional theories and approaches of psychogeography, public art, culture-led and creative revitalization and regeneration of public space and music cognition are discussed in order to create theoretical expectations about the effect of music performance on people’s perception on each attribute of space. The general theoretical assumption is that music has a significant and usually positive effect towards those attributes. In order to verify the theoretical assumption an empirical research has been conducted by investigating a case study; Navarinou Square in Thessaloniki, Greece. By following a qualitative research design into which psychogeographical tools are incorporated, the four attributes of the quality of space have been “tested” in the public realm with the presence of a music performance and without it. With semi-structured interviews and a psychogeographical practice it was possible to collect 31 responses which reflect the theoretical assumptions on the empirical data and results. By comparing and contrasting the responses of the two groups of interviewees and by applying a discourse analysis it was possible to reveal the extent to which music in public space affects the perception people have about those attributes of public space. The results do not seem to correspond with the expectations stated through the theoretical research. Therefore there is a need to reflect further on the theoretical approaches by incorporating the outcomes of the empirical research and reach a conclusion. At the level of conclusions the main research question is answered and it is possible to negotiate possible reasons for the contradicting results of the empirical research. The most important explanation seems to be the seriousness of the problems of the space, which does not allow people to perceive -sub-consciously – the positive effect that music might have. Another possible reason is the tendency of people to engage in “clichés of public speech” and thus deny and neglect the reality of the experiences (Tuan, 1977, p. 203). An interesting conclusion negotiates the importance of revealing or not to the respondent the role of music; when the respondents were informed about the importance of the music in the research they all immediately began to negotiate the value of the
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
performance in a different way. They realized it and linked it with attributes of public space that they didn’t do in the first part of the interview. A factor that seems to have a great influence on people’s constructed perceptions is the quality of music. The last conclusion refers to the elasticity of the cognitive process that constructs perception and experience, due to the critical effect that personal, cultural and social characteristics have on the audience’s music cognition (Kämpfe J., Sedlmeier P., Renkewitz F., 2011). In a last level of comprehension of the processes which link the production of space with the effect that music has on the perception of the quality of public space, there is a discussion of Lefebvre’s spatial trial in view of the conclusions of the research. In order to close the thesis, there is a suggestion of some policy guidelines on the revitalization and regeneration of public space through music events in the public realm. Of course, the last chapter is an evaluation of the research and recommendations for future research which provide a critical view on the whole process of the thesis.
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Executive Summary
Contents Acknowledgements ...... 3 Executive Summary ...... 5 List of Figures ...... 10 List of Tables ...... 10 List of Text Boxes ...... 10 List of Maps...... 11 List of Pictures ...... 11 List of Psychogeographical Pictures...... 12 1. Introduction...... 15 1.1 Music in Public Space ...... 15 1.2 Academic and Societal Relevance ...... 16 1.3 Research Questions ...... 17 1.4 Empirical Research - Case Study...... 18 1.5 Methods ...... 19 1.6 Thesis Outline ...... 19 2. Theoretical Framework ...... 21 2.1 Public Space and Quality of Public Space ...... 22 2.2 The Production of –Public- Space ...... 24 2.3 Perception, Experience and Psychogeography ...... 26 2.4 Public Art, Perception and Quality of Public Space ...... 29 2.4.1 Culture-led and Creative Revitalization and Regeneration of Public Space...... 30 2.5 Music Cognition, Perception and Experience, and the Production of Space ...... 32 2.6 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding comfort ...... 36 2.7 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding sense of community and sociability...... 38 2.8 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding accessibility ...... 39 2.9 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding the use of space.... 40 2.10 Conceptual Model...... 41 3. Research Design - Methodology ...... 43 3.1 Expectations ...... 43 3.2 Methodology ...... 44 3.2.1 Elaboration of the Methodology into a Working Plan...... 44 3.2.2 Asking Questions ...... 47 3.2.3 The Music ...... 49 4. Analysis – Case Study...... 51 4.1 Navarinou Square ...... 51 4.2 The Users and Respondents...... 56
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
4.3 Methods ...... 59 4.4 Data Analysis ...... 60 4.5 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Sense of Comfort of Navarinou Square ...... 63 4.5.1 Attractiveness of Navarinou Square ...... 63 4.5.2 Pleasure in Navarinou Square...... 70 4.5.3 Safety in Navarinou Square ...... 71 4.5.4 Conclusion on the Sense of Comfort in Navarinou Square ...... 73 4.6 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Sense of Community and Sociability of Navarinou Square ...... 75 4.6.1 Navarinou Square as a Meeting Place ...... 75 4.6.2 Feeling Welcome in Navarinou Square ...... 76 4.6.3 Conclusions on the Sense of Community and Sociability in Navarinou Square...... 77 4.7 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Accessibility of Navarinou Square ...... 79 4.7.1 Accessibility and Openness of Navarinou Square ...... 79 4.7.2 The Role of Navarinou Square in the Urban Structure of Thessaloniki ...... 79 4.7.3 Conclusions on the Sense of Accessibility of Navarinou Square...... 81 4.8 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Use of and Activity in Navarinou Square ...... 82 4.8.1 Navarinou Square as an Active Public Space ...... 82 4.8.2 The Activities of Navarinou Square ...... 82 4.8.3 Willingness of Residency in Navarinou Square ...... 85 4.8.4 Conclusions on the Uses and Activities of Navarinou Square ...... 85 4.9 People’s Perceptions on the Music Performance ...... 87 4.9.1 Music in Public Space and Pleasure...... 87 4.9.2 Perceptions towards the Busking Phenomenon ...... 89 4.9.3 Music in Public Space and Sense of Safety ...... 89 4.9.4 Quality Matters ...... 90 4.9.5 Music and Attractiveness of Space...... 91 4.9.6 Music and Revitalization of Public Space ...... 91 4.9.7 Conclusions on People’s Perceptions on the Music Performance ...... 92 5. Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Recommendations...... 95 5.1 Conclusions ...... 95 5.1.1 R.Q.1: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of comfort of a public space? ...... 95 5.1.2 R.Q.2: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of a public space? ...... 97 5.1.3 R.Q.3: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the accessibility of a public space? ...... 98
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5.1.4 R.Q.4: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the use of a public space? ...... 98 5.1.5 Main Research Question: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the quality of a public space? ...... 99 5.2 Discussion ...... 100 5.3 Policy Recommendations ...... 103 6. Evaluation and Recommendations ...... 105 Bibliography ...... 107 Appendices ...... 113 Appendix 1: Semi-structured interview questionnaire ...... 113 Appendix 2: Overview and Profile of the Respondents ...... 116 Appendix 3: Discourse Analysis of Respondents’ Priorities Towards the Factors and Values of Attractiveness in Navarinou Square ...... 118 Appendix 4: Tables of Discourse Analysis of the Empirical Research Data ...... 119
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
List of Figures Figure 1: Lefebvre’s Spatial Triad and Production of –public- Space. Source: (Lefebvre, 1991); author’s edit...... 25 Figure 2: Conceptual model of the research: Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception of the quality of public space. Source: author’s edit...... 41 Figure 3: Discourse analysis coding. Source: author’s ...... 62
List of Tables Table 1: Analysis of the priorities of attractiveness of Navarinou Square as stated by both groups of respondents. The numbers in the cells refer to the amount of responders who reflected on this topic, while the number of quality refers to the prioritizing of each attribute. The values in the blue cell are those which seem to have the highest importance, and therefore greater interest. Source: author’s data and edit...... 69 Table 2: Evaluation of the sense of Comfort of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit...... 74 Table 3: Evaluation of the Sense of Community and Sociability of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit...... 78 Table 4: Evaluation of people’s perception of Accessibility of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit...... 81 Table 5: Respondent’s unconscious priorities about the main uses and activities of Navarinou square. Source: author’s data and edit...... 84 Table 6: Evaluation of people’s perception of the Use of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit...... 86 Table 7: Respondent’s choice of themes to photograph, and whether they paid attention to the music by themselves. Source: author’s data and edit...... 93 Table 8: Respondents’ perceptions on the attributes related to Music in the public space. Source: author’s data and edit...... 94
List of Text Boxes Text Box 1: Theoretical framework built on an inductive method. Source: author’s edit...... 21 Text Box 2: Experience and its production through the mode which construct reality. Source: (1977, p. 8) ...... 26 Text Box 3: Association of Tuan’s experiential triad with Lefebvre’s triad of production of space. Source: author’s edit...... 26 Text Box 4: Policy Recommendations for Public Space Revitalization and Regeneration through Public Music Performances. Source: author’s edit ...... 104
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List of Maps
List of Maps Map 1: Navarinou Square and the important places and landmarks. With the sign of the musical note is where the musicians were performing. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit ...... 45 Map 2: Navarinou Square and its position in the historical centre of Thessaloniki. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit...... 55 Map 3: The position of the users in Navarinou Square. There seems to be a perceived border, starting from the fountain that separates the daily users from the socially –and spatially- marginalized people. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit...... 58
List of Pictures Picture 1: The Place Diagram, as developed by Project for Public Spaces. Source: (Project for Public Spaces, 2012) ...... 23 Picture 2: Example of a psychogeographical map, presenting the different perceptions and experiences produced by walkers of various Parisian neighbourhoods. Cover of Guy Debord’s “Psychogeographic Guide of Paris” (1957). Source: http://goo.gl/2JLjs ...... 28 Picture 3: Music has the power to convey emotion directly. “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev –putting aside its political aspect- is a children’s story and musical composition which presents intense alternations of emotions (fear, happiness) through the musical instruments, the harmonies and the rhythms. This work is often used to teach children musicality and practice their music cognition. Source: http://goo.gl/CSFu6 and http://goo.gl/yOJ5w...... 34 Picture 4: Django Reinhardt, the ambassador of gypsy-swing. Source: http://goo.gl/BI5IC ...... 49 Picture 5: The gypsy-swing musicians who performed during the research. (from left to right) Chris Kosides, Yiannis Vakaloudis and Kostas Vaporidis. Source: author’s ...... 50 Picture 6: The “Achtse Medjid” neighbourhood, as it used to be until 1960’s. In the centre of the picture lies the neighbourhood’s fountain. Nowadays, in the exact same position lies Navarinou Square. Source: (Σομανάσ, 1997) ...... 51 Picture 7: Navarinou Square and the archaeological site (the Galerian Palace) in the late 80s, straight after its construction. Source: Postcard from www.flickr.com ...... 52 Picture 8: Young children during a school trip in the square take pictures of “peeing boy”. This fountain is considered to be the landmark of the square. Source: author’s ...... 53 Picture 9: Navarinou Square today. Source: www.bing.com/maps ...... 54 Picture 10: Parents and grandparents enjoying the first days of summer in the playground under the shade of the tree (May 2012). Source: author’s ...... 56 Picture 11: With the first sun after a heavy winter elder people go to the square to enjoy the nice weather of March (2012) and the company of their friends. Source: author’s ...... 56 Picture 12: Young people sitting at the terraces of the cafeterias on the perimeter of the square. Source: author’s ...... 57 Picture 13: One of the square’s stray, but very friendly, dogs. Source: author’s ...... 57 Picture 14: The distance between performers and audience: In the beginning of the musicians’ performance the children and parents were using only the playground area and the sitting area under the tree. Source: author’s photo...... 64 Picture 15: Children using the paved area to play football, while the music plays. Source: author’s photo...... 65
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
Picture 16: The boy, who some minutes ago was playing football with the other children, stopped and sat next to the musicians to listen to them. Source: author’s photo...... 65 Picture 17: A grandfather with his granddaughter standing in a small shaded area next to the musicians in order to listen to them from close. Source: author’s photo...... 66 Picture 18: In the fountain, the border between the two “sides” of the square, children play, while under the sycamore tree are gather the “other users” of the square. Refer also to Map 3. Source: Agelioforos Newspaper: http://goo.gl/O2qTS...... 72 Picture 19: People who are considered to be the “other users” of the square are having lunch in the east side of the square Refer also to Map 3. Source: author’s photo...... 73 Picture 20: Old man sitting on a bench and feeding the pigeons of the square. Source: author’s photo ...... 75 Picture 21: March 2012 – As soon as the first spring sun came out in Thessaloniki, the square filled with people of all ages who went to the space to enjoy the weather. Source: author’s ...... 79 Picture 22: The only historical building left in the square, which seems to attract people’s interest when discussing the topic of residency. Source: author’s ...... 85 Picture 23 and Picture 24: Single and group users of the square. Source: author’s photos...... 86 Picture 25: A young mother dancing with her baby girl to the sounds of a waltz song. Source: author’s ...... 87 Picture 26: “Children always stop to listen”. A little girl almost enchanted by the music has been listening to the musicians for more than 15 minutes. Source: author’s ...... 90 Picture 27: “May I at least buy you a coffee?” this woman suggests to the musicians when they said that they do not collect money, but they perform for pleasure. Source: author’s ...... 91 Picture 28: A park in Berlin gets revitalized through regular karaoke events. Source: (Smith, 2012) 103
List of Psychogeographical Pictures Psychogeographical Picture 1: Playground equipment, and infrastructures not suitable for very young children. Source: author’s (photo taken by respondent 15B) ...... 67 Psychogeographical Picture 2: An empty glass of coffee. Respondent 3A took a picture of the glass of coffee, in order to indicate the importance that this related activity has in her perception of the place. Source: author’s (photo taken by respondent 3A) ...... 68 Psychogeographical Picture 3: “I would like to spend some time in the square because I can sit on the grass. (…) it’s not easy to find it in the city…” says a young male student and reflects the importance of the “green” on people’s perceptions of the square. Source: author’s (photo taken by respondent 7A)...... 68 Psychogeographical Pictures 4 and 5: One of the “portraits” of the fountain and the playground: the two most photographed parts of the square. The little boy’s fountain is a psychogeographical reflection of a male student’s perception of the square, and the playground of a young female student, who is also from the countryside. Source: author’s photos ...... 70 Psychogeographical Picture 6: Example of low-maintained infrastructures: a spring that does no longer function. Source: author’s photo (respondent 14B) ...... 70 Psychogeographical Picture 7: Musicians Performing. Picture captured during the Psychogeographical test by a young girl who was walking her dog. Source: author’s (respondent 13B) ...... 70
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List of Psychogeographical Pictures
Psychogeographical Picture 8: Company of mothers with children who have come to meet each other in the public realm and allow their children to play. Source: author’s photo (photo taken by respondent 9A) ...... 77 Psychogeographical Picture 9: The playground as portrayed by respondent 2A, a young mother and photographer. Source: author’s (taken by respondent 2A) ...... 82 Psychogeographical Picture 10: A male student who was enjoying his coffee in the terrace, in the presence of music, took this picture of the environment of the entertainment facility. Source: author’s (taken by respondent 4B)...... 83
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
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Introduction
1. Introduction
“A good city is like a good party – people stay longer than really necessary, because they are enjoying themselves.”
- Jan Gehl, Danish architect
…and, of course, a good party always has good music!
1.1 Music in Public Space Music in public space is not a new public creative expression. Since ancient time, music has been a part of public life accompanying celebrations, ceremonies or just daily life. There was a bidirectional relationship between music and public life; musicians have been inspired by the city and their music used to work as an inspiration for people. Public space used to be the scene where musicians had the chance to present their work and express themselves. Modern cities seem to seek for the values of the past in order to bring life back to the realm and therefore contemporary urban culture renegotiates the use of public creative expression as a means to achieve that. Urbanists and artists try to find ways of collaboration in order to revitalize the streets; the veins of the city. Music in public space seems to be one of those tools in the toolbox that are waiting to be used in order to construct a new urban reality. A more creative and vivid one! Until now, the very promising outcome of those attempts is related to public art; street art, murals, guerrilla. The question is what can music provide to the public realm that public art cannot? Coburn (2002) suggests that it is the sound that allows this form of art to integrate further than other artistic forms that are more static and elements of the architectural space. Music has the characteristic of temporality; it is a performative art that is being created at the same time that the receiver experiences it. Music has the power to convey emotion directly, intensively and in a dialectic form between the producer and the receiver. In this way, people have the opportunity to generate a perception and experience of space based on the emotion that music transfers. So what happens if these functions and qualities of music are spread in the public realm? How does music reflect those emotions on the walls, the pavements, the trees, the other people, the social relations? Music in public space along with the physical, social and cultural elements of the realm seem to influence the perception that people might have about its quality and eventually the way they experience this space. This is what this research seeks to reveal.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
1.2 Academic and Societal Relevance The literature overview has shown that there is a possible gap in the research regarding music in the public urban realm within the field of geography and urban sciences. The majority of scientific articles and reports focuses either on public art in general or on creativity and culture in the cities (Creative Cities1) and the linkage of those with urban regeneration, integration, segregated areas. Other literature refers also to the way music and music cognition might affect people’s emotions or performances on some activities (e.g. sports, creativity, reading etc.) However, no research has examined the way music cognition changes the way people perceive, experience and/or feel about their urban environment; whether it is a private or a public one. The rest of the literature negotiates more innovative ways of adding music in everyday life, with contemporary means of technology, ICTs and generally more “artistic” ways, but in a rather personalised and individual manner2. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to fill in the gap in the academic debate and research regarding the role of music in public, as a means of public art, in urban everyday life, viewed from the aspect of the civilians-“audience” (Hall T., Smith C., 2004). According to the literature research there has not been any report, article or study similar or tightly related to the subject being studied in the thesis. As a result it is not possible to find original approaches and aspects regarding the matter and make a clear comparison. In order to overcome this barrier, there is an attempt to build on existing approaches in literature regarding relative subjects and with an inductive method to create a proper theoretical framework. Afterwards, these ideas and approaches are adapted to the structure of the framework, which is based on the four research questions. This thesis seeks to contribute to the research on the inherent potentials of the city to revitalize and regenerate itself through its own dynamics. Street musicians are not the kind of artists who wish to engage their art in a sort of a consumption process. They wish to offer their music as a public good to the people of the city. They seek to participate in the urban rhythms and be a part of the city. Street musicians want their music to mean something to the citizens and change the way they experience the public realm. Therefore, it is considered that this research might function as a reference and a tool for those artists and/or urbanists who wish to enlighten the links between the musician, the citizen and the urban environment and take their ideas a step forward. This way they will eventually manage to use the raw materials that the city provides in order to refurbish its image, change the urban experience and achieve public space revitalization through a bottom-up procedure (Landry C., 2000, p. 7). What is more, the case study of this research focuses on a neglected public space, with lots of potentials and dynamics. Navarinou Square in Thessaloniki, Greece, is one of the very few active public spaces in the city centre, which has a lot of green and a significant historical and aesthetic value. Therefore, one of the goals of this research is to start a conversation on the importance of this public space and its potentials as a pole of public creative expression in the core of a metropolitan area.
1 See Landry C. (2000). The creative city; a toolkit for urban innovators 2 See: Coburn R. (2002). Composing space: the integration of music, time, and space in multi-dimensional sound installations; Gaye L., Maze R., Holmquist L.E., (2003). Sonic City: The Urban Environment as a Musical Interface; Lee, 2006. Sonic Graffiti: Spraying and remixing music on the street;
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Introduction
1.3 Research Questions In order to fill in the literature gap, it is recognised that the main research question that needs to be answered is:
To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the quality of a public space?
The main issue under investigation is the extent to which music in public space changes the perception that people –the audience- might have about their urban environment and quality of it; in this case, public space. As the literature review has revealed music presented in public and the perception of the citizens of the urban realm seem to be linked. In order to answer this main research question, the attributes that influence people’s perception on public space are firstly identified and discussed under various theoretical approaches (in the Theoretical Framework) and secondly empirically tested on field. This “test” is conducted with interviews of people at a public space/case study (specifically Navarinou Square). In this way, their perceptions with and without music about the place and its quality are examined. By comparing the results of both procedures, a conclusion is made concerning the –hypothetical- change that music might bring to people’s perception about a public space. Additionally to the interviewing, psychogeographical approaches and tools are used to enhance the possible output about people’s perception. In order to answer the main research question, four research sub-questions are formed and used. These, are based on the four respective attributes that have been recognised in the theoretical research as indicative of a citizen’s perception about a public space. The four research sub-questions are:
To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of comfort of a public space? Sense of comfort in public space, is the first attribute of public space that works as an indicator of people’s perception of the quality of space. This attribute is identified and evaluated by three further aspects of comfort of public space. These are attractiveness, pleasure and safety. The sub-attributes are stressed during the interviews with specific questions and the answers and opinions given by the respondents function as factors, which apart from creating a perspective of people’s perception on comfort they also assist to compare and contrast this perception on the occasion of music performance being present in the space and without it. To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of a public space? The second attribute that is tested both on theoretical level as well as on the field is the perception of the sense of community and sociability that the public space’s users have. It is discussed, that there are three factors that indicate this attribute. First of all, to what extend the public space is perceived as a meeting place, secondly how people perceive and use the playground as a means of socializing and thirdly, to what extent people feel welcome in the square. These three sub-attributes are addressed during the interviews and function as a measuring tool of the extent to which music in public space changes the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability that the place offers.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the accessibility of a public space? Accessibility is an attribute of great importance for a public space as it is related with the public life. The accessibility and openness of a public space, as well as the role of this space in the urban structure are considered the main factors indicating the value of this attribute. Interviewees’ perceptions on those two sub-attributes reflect the overall symbolic representation that the users of the space have regarding its accessibility. What is more, the presence of musical stimuli or not seem to have a reflection on people’s perception on accessibility; a hypothesis that is tested through the field work.
To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the use of a public space? The vitality of a public space as well as the way people use a public space are significant attributes. The extent that a public space is considered an active space and the perceptions that people have on the activities taking place there are two major indicative sub-attributes of the use of the space. Additionally, the user’s willingness to reside in the area of the public space is also taken into account. Those three sub-attributes are firstly reflected in the academic discussion and then tested both in the case of the music performance and without it, in order to measure the degree that music affects people’s perceptions on the use of square.
1.4 Empirical Research - Case Study In order to answer the research questions, to reach a conclusion and fill in the literature gap a case study research is scheduled. For this research it was necessary to choose a case where music performance would be possible in this public space and where the thin lines of speech regarding perception would be possible to define. Therefore, there was a need for a case that the researcher would be familiar with. Thessaloniki, the researcher’s hometown, seems to be a proper choice, firstly because of the familiarity with the general urban environment and secondly because it is more “safe” to do all the research and interviews in the researcher’s mother language; Greek. More specifically, the public space under case-study research is a square, Navarinou square, in the historical centre of Thessaloniki. This public space has been a part of the researcher’s daily life, and there is a high level of familiarity with the characteristics and peculiarities of the space. Therefore the approach towards other people’s perceptions on the space can be more delicate. Another reason for choosing this square as a case study is the fact that this space carries very characteristic features, and its structural role in the city centre of Thessaloniki is considered to be of great value. Those attributes will be presented and analysed in the following chapters. Despite any personal experience and familiarity with Navarinou square, there is also another reason for choosing this public space particularly of Thessaloniki. The Greek city of Thessaloniki especially the last year seems to be in a mood for public expression of its creative power, mainly through a bottom up and procedure. The city is considered to be one of the most significant poles of music creation in Balkans3. The last two years, with volunteer participation, that sometimes was also accompanied by the municipality’s support, many street festivals were arranged in the city centre. These festivals many times took place in deprived areas of the city centre (mostly in Valaoritou Area,
3 See: Wilder, 2011. The Arts Bloom in Greece’s Second City
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Introduction a former manufacture and industrial area in the city centre which is now on focus for future regeneration programs) but also in developed districts like the port and the waterfront. Music had most of the times the central role in these events. Apart from organized events, musicians –locals or even from the neighbour countries- can be viewed in public in the city centre performing either solo, or with their bands; a busking phenomenon that is recognised in many big cities. Navarinou square and the streets around it is a pole of similar busking events that attract a lot of public interest, especially during spring and summer.
1.5 Methods The methodological approach proposed for this research in order to answer the research sub- questions and reflect on the main research question is related to qualitative as well as psychogeographical methods and data applied on a case-study. These are focusing on the perceptions, experiences, feelings and thoughts of the questioned people as well as on the external characteristics, such as the qualities of an urban environment, general discourses and space reputation. The data are collected through semi- structured interviews, in Navarinou Square, where the majority of the types of users of the square are asked to reflect their perceptions and experiences towards music in public space. The methodology followed in this research seeks to extensively examine the perceptions and experiences produced during a music performance in a public space which carries specific characteristics and attracts specific people. By taking into account all these characteristics that make this public realm as well as the people in it –probably- unique, it might be possible to evaluate the attributes that play a significant role in perception and experience of public realm in the presence of music.
1.6 Thesis Outline The thesis structure consists of six main chapters. To begin with, the introduction, which is the current chapter, gives an overview of the research aim, the sub-questions that seek to respond to the main research question and structure the research design, as well as the methods and techniques followed to answer the research questions. The second chapter is about the theoretical background that supports the research. The theoretical framework of the research is built based on literature research and analysis. For the backbone of the framework, the four key qualities of space, as introduced by Project for Public Spaces (2012) and William H. Whyte are used as the pylons on which all theories adapt in order to build the theoretical background of the research. What is more, Lefebvre’s approach towards Production of Space (1991) is also in the main light of the theoretical framework. However, since there is a literature gap concerning the extent to which music in public space affects people’s perception about a public space, there is a need to blend ideas and approaches from different topics and themes. Thus, by
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
following an inductive method, the themes approached in order to build the framework and eventually the main argument of the thesis has public space as the starting point and through literature research about public perception and experience, public art, music in public, and public space revitalization and regeneration, reaches the final point concerning the effect of public music performance on peoples’ perceptions towards the quality of space. The theoretical framework results in a detailed and tightly linked conceptual model, which shows all the theoretical aspects and approaches related to the subject. The third chapter is the Research Design and Methodology of the thesis. This chapter presents the methods and techniques that have been followed in order to answer the research questions. Starting from the description of the procedures followed (the expectations, the experiment and the interviews) and heading to the data preparation this chapter provides the methodological background that supports the thesis and leads to the data analysis. The following chapter is the Analysis and the presentation of the Case Study of the research. In this chapter are analysed all the attributes and concepts of the theoretical framework through the presentation of the results of the case study. Here, the four research questions are answered according to the empirical research, as well as an attempt for deep interpretation and evaluation of the outcomes is made. Following the results of the fourth chapter, Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Recommendations on the theoretical approaches give a more critical perspective on the main research question. What is more, by focusing on the “applied” output that this thesis is aiming to leave behind, the fifth chapter includes also a structured list of policy recommendations on public space revitalization and urban regeneration through music in public, based on bottom-up culture-led strategies. The last, and sixth, chapter is an evaluation of the research procedure, the results and the proposal for future research. This chapter is aiming to indicate possible factors that might change the results and specify alternatives for the research procedure. Last, but not least, an attempt will be made to propose related themes and subjects for further research. The aim of this research is to provide insight into the linkage between music in public and the way people perceive and experience the urban public realm and result in policies that would help the revitalization and urban regeneration of public space.
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Theoretical Framework
2. Theoretical Framework As it has been mentioned before, there seems to be a gap in the literature regarding music in the public realm, its effect on people’s perception of space as well as its connection with revitalization and regeneration policies. On the contrary, the literature review has revealed that a great amount of researchers, from different academic perspectives have worked on the issue of art in public space and its effect on the urban landscape as a regeneration policy tool. As a result, there was a need to follow an inductive method in order to research and, eventually, build the theoretical framework (Text Box 1). It was recognised that there are some levels of theoretical topics, which by researching on them and picking the ideas and theories that are related, it was possible to build a theoretical framework related to music in public space. However, this theoretical framework should be based and produced by the research questions in order to give perspectives on the research aim: the extent to which music in public space changes the perception people have about the quality of public space. As a result, it was decided that the four main attributes of public space, which also form the four research questions, are the main pylons of the theoretical framework. Comfort in public space, the sense of community and sociability, the accessibility the public space and the use of it work as four thematic units in which topics related to public space, such as public perception and experience, public art, music in public space and eventually revitalization and regeneration through public art and/or music are discussed.
Public Space and Quality of Public Space
Public Experience and Perception
Public Art and Perception
Music in Public Space
Regeneration & revitalization through public art and/or music
Text Box 1: Theoretical framework built on an inductive method. Source: author’s edit
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
2.1 Public Space and Quality of Public Space Public space is the urban spatial unit that the research is being focused in this project. This urban unit has been attributed with many and different definitions and functionalities throughout the bibliography, some of them focusing on its clearly spatial and planning functionality as an open space, serving urban needs of sustainability, practices and urban form, while others negotiating the more societal, cultural and political aspect of public space and its effect on the urban social networks and coherence ( (Tonnelat, 2010); (Patterson, 2010); (Burgers, 2000)). A more relevant approach to the second kind of bibliography is followed in this research; probably the more “geographical” one, without however neglecting totally the first aspect. Apart from its functional purpose within a city network as a “shared space used by citizens as a whole, available to everyone whereby no one in particular may be allowed to usurp it” (Alves, 2007), public space is conceived as a net of relations and links, with social, financial, political, cultural as well as real substance where people come into contact with other people and with the physical environment on a daily basis (Baker S., Bennett A., Homan S., 2009). The degree to which people come to these kinds of contacts has an effect on the experience of the public space as well as the way people engage with it and perceive it. Within a perspective of the public realm as a creative and active space, Sancar (2003) realises a discursive shift from space to place. This shift has led to the emergence of an interest about the experiences that place might reflect; the perception of place. “Research on place perception is associated primarily with environment- behaviour studies and aims at identifying the attributes of place categories and evaluative and affective responses to them” (Sancar, 2003, p. 270). The variety of definitions regarding public space is also followed by a variation in the attributes of public space theorized and identified by researchers in the bibliography. Tonnelat (2010) in an attempt to discuss the sociology of urban public spaces indicates accessibility and communication as the two most important and basic qualities of public space, onto which all other values rest (2010, p. 8). Following a more “architectural” approach, Özlem Tuğba Yenimazman in her Master Thesis (2010) followed a comparative methodology in order to reveal that “public space usage differentiates in different cultures with the different social and physical environments of Barcelona and Istanbul”. In order to answer her research aim, Yenimazman identifies six criteria of space: location and accessibility, neutral valuation relationship, urban functions and multifanctionality, social environment and usage profile, urban, architectural and cultural value of the area as well as public space quality (Yenimazman, 2010, pp. 4-5). Carr, Francis, Rivlin and Stone (1992, p. 85) identify three dimensions and qualities of public space: needs, rights and meanings related to space. These are attributes tightly related to the societal relevance of public space, as well as “the history of the site, the tradition of the users and the relationship of both to the context” (1992, p. 85). Carr et al. (1992, p. 85) identify a tendency of planners to negotiate mainly the physical attributes of public space, while neglecting the societal ones, and therefore ending up with unsuccessful public spaces. Richard Florida (2002), in the context of Creative Cities and Creative Class, evaluates the quality of a place by negotiating three other dimensions: what’s there, who’s there and what’s going on (2002, pp. 231-232, italics in the original). Florida, compared to the perspective of Carr et al. (1992, p. 85), gives an equal importance both to the physical environment of the square, as well as the societal aspect of it; the social networks, the built environment, the activities hosted, the local community,
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Theoretical Framework the everyday life etc (2002, pp. 231-232). He also suggests that spaces in order to be successful should present and provide as many qualities and attributes as possible, as to give options of use and pleasure to all potential users, of any kind (Florida, 2002, p. 233). William H. Whyte ( (1988); (1979)), out of his personal experience and research, before Richard Florida, has identified similar, but more specific attributes to the public space. In his movie “the social life of small urban spaces” (1979) Whyte sums up the qualities and attributes that make a public space successful. These qualities are: Sittable Space, Street, Sun, Food, Water, Trees and Triangulation4 (Whyte, 1979, 42:34). These attributes refer not only to the physical environment and design of the space (sitting areas, sun/shade, water, green etc) but also to the sense of community and the everyday interactions (street and the “undesirables”, security and triangulation) ( (1988); (1979)). Following William H. Whyte’s perception on the attributes of public space and what makes a successful site, the non-profit organization “Project for Public Spaces” (2012) created a tool, a kind of “protocol” that would assist to the identification and evaluation of those attributes. This “protocol” has given the main guidelines in order to form the research questions of the thesis, as well as to build the four pylons of the theoretical framework. Project for Public Spaces (2012) in an attempt to identify those attributes that make a place successful has developed “The Place Diagram” (Project for Public Spaces, 2012). The criteria, the four attributes stated in the orange circle of the diagram (Picture 1) are the four qualities of space that are used in this research in order to evaluate the effect of music on people’s perception about them. Comfort, Sociability (stated as Sense of Community and Sociability in the research), Access and Linkages (Accessibility in the thesis) and Uses and Activities are the four “key qualities” of place under investigation. These four criteria/attributes and the theoretical aspects related to them are discussed in the following sub-chapters.
Picture 1: The Place Diagram, as developed by Project for Public Spaces. Source: (Project for Public Spaces, 2012)
4 “Triangulation” is explained in chapter 2.4, page 19.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
The attributes and approaches discussed above lead to the evaluation of the quality of a public space, each time according to the aspect of the researcher. However, it is believed that the Place Diagram (Picture 1) manages to include all the aforementioned approaches, each time according to the researcher’s interpretation and use of the attributes.
2.2 The Production of –Public- Space In a place such as a city or a neighbourhood, then, the various constituent spaces are not just containers within which people live out their daily lives. It is the living out of these daily lives which is itself a part of the making of the space: all those embodied ways of doing things, often quite routinised things, and often quite small scales, and around particular constellations of objects, produce the spaces and places of an urban area. (...)‘Space’ is constantly produced and modified. When you walk into an empty square you change, just a little, its nature as a ‘space’; we, and material objects, continually and jointly produce space. (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 4) The aforementioned attributes and values of public space (chapter 2.1) – of any approach, either material or human - can be considered to be the resources and outcome of the production and construction of the relevant space. According to Setha Low (1999) “(T)he social production [emphasis added] of space includes all those factors – social, economic, ideological, and technological – whose intended goal is the physical creation of the material setting.”, identifying production as a procedure of historical, political and economic nature of urban space (Low, 1999, p. 112). On the other hand, social construction of space includes the experiential processes and the symbolisms of space. Low (1999) identifies social construction as “the actual transformation of space”, as it is tightly linked with and derives from the societal negotiation of the daily user with space. It is important to highlight the emphasis that Low gives on the experiences and symbolisms of space and how they are linked with, and actually lead to the construction of space (Low, 1999, p. 112). According to this approach, the attributes, values and criteria as well as the social processes that might be related to them mentioned in the chapter before (chapter 2.1) can be categorized in those two “types” of production of –public- space. However, it is pointed out that the borders between the two aspects are not always determined (Low, 1999, p. 114). Henri Lefebvre (1991) in his work “The Production of Space” negotiates the social production of space through the representations of the enclosed relations. As in the case of Low (1999), factors and the relevant representations are the elements of the production which eventually lead to the creation of the physical space. However, Lefebvre does not support the binary approach of Low - even if she states her agreement with Lefebvre’s holistic approach towards production of space (Low, 1999, p. 114). On the contrary, he introduces a spatial triad, a “conceptual triad” (p. 33) which negotiates the representations and practices of the social space and through them he actually incorporates the societal and experiential aspect (the construction of space) in the production of space (Lefebvre, 1991). These three “elements” (p. 39) are tightly related and in constant negotiation. According to Goheen (1998) this dialogical relationship of the elements is what creates a “meaningful public space” (p. 479). The first element, spatial practice, or else the perceived space, refers to the physical space, the networks and relations, the everyday practices and “routine” (Lefebvre, 1991, pp. 33, 38), and the “socioeconomic processes by which the material city is reproduced” (Leary, 2009, p. 195). The perceived space is the production of urban physical environment and the result of it.
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Theoretical Framework
Secondly, the representations of space refer to the concepts related to the production of space. It is the space as it is conceived by the “scientists, planners, urbanists, technocratic subdividers and social engineers, as of a certain type of artist with a scientific bent” (Lefebvre, 1991, pp. 33, 38) . Drawings, concepts, plans, ideas are the essence of this aspect of the production of space. The third element is the representational spaces (or spaces of representations). This peak of the spatial triangle is related to the space as it is lived. Symbolisms, experiences, images are the main elements of this aspect, creating an overlay of perceptions above the physical space (Lefebvre, 1991, pp. 33, 39). While the representations of space are attributed to those who conceive and design space, the spaces of representations correspond to those who use it, live it and experience it (Leary, 2009, p. 195). It could be argued, that the attributes of public space, as indicated in the chapter above (chapter 2.1), while in the model of Low (1999) are categorized in the two types of production of space, in the case of Lefebvre’s spatial triad, the same values can be attributed to each aspect but not in a deterministic way. As these three dimensions keep a dialogical relationship, accordingly, the values of each dimension have the chance to be negotiated and eventually produced in space in a more relevant way. For instance, the value of Comfort and Image, as introduced by the Place Diagram (Picture 1), while at first can be attributed to Spatial Practices as it refers to the physical environment of the public space, it can also be relevant either to Conceived Space (how a planner designs a public space in order to provide comfort) or to the Lived Space (how everyday users experience comfort in the public space). Leary (2009) from a planning perspective and Young (2012) from an artistic one provide two indicative, though different examples of how Lefebvre’s triad can be implemented to a methodological tool according to the researcher’s goal and needs, which serves for analysing space.
Figure 1: Lefebvre’s Spatial Triad and Production of –public- Space. Source: (Lefebvre, 1991); author’s edit
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
2.3 Perception, Experience and Psychogeography Perception is the way people internally experience the external world. This is how Schutz (2009) defines perception and relates it with experience within a musicological context (p. 22). Perception and experience are two very wide terms that can be attributed to a variety of topics from many scientific and academic fields; they are a way of knowing and constructing a reality (Tuan, 1977, p. 8). What is more, due to the tight relationship that they have with the fields of psychology and cognitive sciences, perception and experience are also highly influenced by a person’s character and cultural background. However, perception and experience have been also under research and negotiation in the field of spatial sciences since the 70s, when the first sociologists and philosophers began to realize the importance of those mental functions in the urban daily life. Yi-Fu Tuan (1977), through his interest in phenomenological approaches of space and place, recognizes space as an object which people perceive and experience because of their ability to move in it and sense its characteristics (p. 12). Wunderlich (2008) agrees with this statement identifying walking as the main “’mode of experiencing place’ and the ‘city’” (p. 125). There is a variety of ways and levels that people experience space, according to the symbols provided. These levels are mainly affected by the degree of intimacy that the person has with space; the more one is related to a space on a daily basis the more intimate one’s experience is (Tuan, 1977, p. 6). The experiences that present high intimacy, are the most psychologically and cognitively deep ones. These experiences, according to Tuan, are difficult to express and to put into words, mainly because they are not usually conscious (1977, pp. 136-137). They tend to “easily escape our attention” (p. 143) and are held on the back side of our mind and consciousness “in favor of the clichés of public speech” (p. 203). However, they can be brought to the surface of consciousness and feelings even by a small stimulation. Such stimulation can also be a place itself; Tuan calls this space “intimate place” and highlights the importance of a person’s connection to it despite of its conscious or unconscious nature (Tuan, 1977, p. 141). Experience, according to Tuan, is produced by a person’s sensation, perception and conception of space (p. 8). The more sensational an experiential mode is, the more emotional it is. On the contrary, the levels of thought used in the interpretation of the symbolisms of space raise as the more perceptional and conceptive an experience is (see Text Box 3).
The triad, which Tuan (1977, p. 8) suggests as a Text Box 2: Experience and its production through mechanism through which experience is constructed, the mode which construct reality. Source: (1977, p. 8) can be associated with the one of Lefebvre’s on the production of space (Lefebvre, 1991) . This association of the variable of each theoretical approach can be viewed in Text Box 3. The sensational mode of experience refers to the “direct and passive senses” of human, such as taste, smell, touch etc (Tuan, 1977, p. 8). This mode can be associated with Lefebvre’s spaces of Text Box 3: Association of Tuan’s experiential triad with Lefebvre’s triad of production of space. representations, as it refers to the space as it is lived. Source: author’s edit
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Theoretical Framework
The stimulations that produce a person’s everyday experience of space are related to one’s senses. The second mode, perception, is tightly related with perceived space (spatial practices). The mode of perception is a sensation “qualified by thought” (Tuan, 1977, p. 8). Accordingly, perceived space is the elaboration of the lived space into a space that carries meanings of practices. The mode of conception seems to be related to the representations of space (conceived space). Conception is “the indirect mode of symbolization”, the one that carries the highest degree of thought (Tuan, 1977, p. 8). It refers to the way people think about a space and the experiences that it creates and provides. Lefebvre’s conceived space has a similar definition. It is related to the production of space through the thought of it. People may produce and experience a space inside their minds and thoughts. It seems that there is a link between these two approaches, and that by combining them it is possible to create a complete approach about the production and experience of space. Yi-Fu Tuan (1977) supports that “it is impossible to discuss experiential space without introducing the objects and places that define space” (p. 136). These objects and places within a space are the architectural features of it, the attributes and values that transform a space into a place. These values, when referring to a public space and the experience of this realm, might as well be the attributes discussed in subchapter 2.1. More specifically, in terms of this research, the attributes that define a public space’s quality are Comfort, Sociability, Accessibility and Uses and Activities. These attributes can be respectfully related to the three peaks of Tuan’s experiential triad. However, as in the case of Lefebvre’s triad these values cannot definitely be attributed to only one mode of experience. Oakeshott (1933) states that experience functions as a whole, and the modes that define it cannot “be separated from one another finally and absolutely” (pp. 10-11). In this way, it is possible to describe the perceptions and experiences created in a public space and even evaluate them.
In the former sub-chapter (2.2) there was an attempt to relate the attributes of public space with the ways that space is produced, according to Lefebvre (1991). Since Lefebvre’s spatial triad can be associated with Tuan’s experiential triad it could be argued that the second approach fills the –mere- experiential gap in the first one and the opposite. By evaluating the attributes of public space in terms of both approaches (production of space and modes of experience) it is possible to reach a conclusion concerning the impact of music in public space on people’s perception of it. Additionally to the attributes of –public– space, Sancar (2003) suggests that people experience a place from a “unique viewpoint” and that the reaction of each individual varies from place to place. Some factors that affect this viewpoint are age, background and personal interests (Sancar, 2003, p. 271). Merleau-Ponty considers the body and the whole of the senses to be the vessel and the sensor of the experiences which also turns these experiences into mental perceptions (Seamon, 2010, pp. 1-2). Tuan (1977) also suggests that differences in people’s cultural background are related to different personal approaches of life, perceptions and experiences (p. 34). From a similar point of view, Low (2003) indicates as influential factors to one’s perception and experience, one’s “emotions and state of mind, sense of self, social relations and cultural predispositions” (p. 10). Overall, it could be argued, that both factors related to the physical and social attributes of space as well as personal characteristics are the ones affecting the perception and experience that a person might have. Therefore, perception and experience of space can be described strongly subjective processes (Doucet, 2009), which vary from place to place and from person to person.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
As it has been mentioned before, perception and experience of space, and especially of urban space, have attracted the interest of many researchers and theorists of a great variety of scientific – and not only - fields. Young (2012) in her work seeks to relate the production of space, as introduced by Lefebvre with the experience and perception of space, from an artistic perspective. In order to reach her aim, she introduces to her theoretical framework the ideas and approaches of the Situationist Movement (1957-1972) and its founder, Guy Debord (Young, 2012, p. 6). The Situationists were viewing the urban environment and city life through a philosophical and artistic - avant-garde - prism, which allowed them to have a different focus on the experiences of urban life and the symbolisms of the urban environment. Therefore, their approaches are also tightly related to the way people perceive and engage with the urban realm; an aspect of main interest for this research. The Situationists in order to translate their philosophical approaches to empirical results and works of art have developed three methodological tools: Dérive, Psychogeography and Détournement, which are linked to each other and based on urban walking (Young, 2012, p. 6).
Dérive is associated with the urban drifter5; it is the action of moving instinctively and playfully in the city while observing the urban environment and the involved interactions. It is a dialogical relationship, almost a seduction, between the walker’s body and the associated environment ( (Young, 2012, p. 6); (Bassett, 2004, p. 401); (Debord, Theory of the Dérive, 1956); (Barnard, 2004, p. 108)).
Psychogeography within Situationists’ philosophy is “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals” (Debord, 1955, p. 1). Psychogeography functions as the analytical progress of interpreting the activity of Dérive. Its outcome is a cartographical product which represents perceptions, experiences and feelings related to urban environment (Bassett, 2004, p. 402).
Détournement is the attribution of a different meaning and use to an original object (Bassett, 2004, p. 401). These objects and their reformed –usually artistic - meanings are present in the urban environment and are the building stones of Psychogeography and Dérive (Young, 2012, p. 7).
Picture 2: Example of a psychogeographical map, presenting the different perceptions and experiences produced by walkers of various Parisian neighbourhoods. Cover of Guy Debord’s “Psychogeographic Guide of Paris” (1957). Source: http://goo.gl/2JLjs
5 However, “The dérive was also distinguished from flânerie or mere voyeurism by its more critical attitude towards the hegemonic scope of modernity.” (Bassett, 2004, p. 401)
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Theoretical Framework
In the present research - as it is revealed later in the methodological chapter (3.2) - a modified interpretation of psychogeography is used as a methodological tool, in order to reveal and record people’s perception about the urban environment/square of the case study. What is more, an artistic perspective of space, such as the psychogeographical one, seems to be relevant with the research theme, which negotiates music – an artistic expression – in public realm. 2.4 Public Art, Perception and Quality of Public Space Contemporary approaches towards public space and place tend to link this realm with studies on experiences and perceptions within a more artistic and creative context. Gaye, Maze and Holmquist (2003) describe the connection between the urban environment and the experience of it:
Everyday urban experience involves active interpretation and impels creative response – consider the meaning of a screeching noise, the smell of burning rubber and a car headed your way! As a ‘physical interface’, the city provides a built infrastructure and established ways of using it creatively.” (Gaye L., Maze R., Holmquist L.E., 2003, ς. 109). Accordingly, Durao (Embodied Space: a sensorial approach to spatial experience, 2009, p. 400) states that “(F)or space to be experienced as place, corporeal evidence and experience is required”, making clear that there is a tight link between the sense of space and people’s translation of it into place and the experience of it. It seems, that the public realm, the “built infrastructure”, provides a canvas where people may express their, sometimes repressed from the daily routine, creativity. The outcome of such creative expressions is not only of materialistic nature (public art) but also of psychological one as these actions seem to affect the way people experience and perceive public space and engage with place. Modern cities are claimed to be boring and therefore a failure. However, it could be argued that waves of creativity flowing in the urban environment may have the power to change this situation. Urban play and creativity are used as tools to rejuvenate the public realm and bring interest to everyday life (Degen, M., DeSilvey, C. and Rose, G., 2008, pp. 1914-1915). One expression of urban creativity is public art or street art (McClish, Orange Houses and Tape Babies: Temporary and Nebulous Art in Urban Spaces, 2010, p. 860). Public art is able to change the way people perceive and experience their everyday lives. It seems to serve as a symbolic means of interpretation and production of human feelings and therefore creates its own space and its own mental representation (Tuan, 1977, p. 162). Accordingly, these mental as well as physical representations lead to “elicit responses” from the side of the audience; these are perceptions which eventually lead to an experience of public space, generated by the image and symbolism of public art (Zebracki, 2011). The new urban elements grab people’s attention and make the space/place more interesting by providing new perspectives of how urban environment could be, physically and socially, except for its nowadays most common function; consumption (McClish, Orange Houses and Tape Babies: Temporary and Nebulous Art in Urban Spaces, 2010, pp. 852-853). As Tuan (1977) indicates, public art has the power to create and produce its own space. In terms of production of space, as introduced by Lefebvre (1991), public art creates its own conceived space and representations of space; the artist or the architect first comes up with an idea, a concept of a project for a public space that would “give (…) symbolic form” to the urban structure (Tuan, 1977, p. 164). What is more, public art is a spatial practice; an “object” within a public realm that stimulates the senses, attracts attention and creates an experience, a spatial perception, and gives identity to a space (Wagemans, 2011). Public art, transforms the lived space by attaching a new meaning to the daily life and the urban rhythms; it gives a new symbolic interpretation of the use and function of
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
the public space (Young, 2012). Lived space, is the space of artists and therefore of public art (Radice M., Morgan K., Nagler S., 2011). McClish (2010) argues that public space should be interwoven with democracy, and creativity is the way to sustain and develop further this value. Creativity allows people to participate in activities within the public realm and eventually to engage deeper with urban space and even lead to an intimate experience of space that they might not have had before (Tuan, 1977). Public art is the tool to achieve spatial and place engagement that is tightly connected with the perception and the experience that people get from the urban environment (McClish, Orange Houses and Tape Babies: Temporary and Nebulous Art in Urban Spaces, 2010, p. 862). What is more, public art may have a social or even a political output, since community is participating in related actions and there is a possibility of raising a public debate ( (Tornaghi, 2007, p. 4); (Earl, 2011, p. 123)). Social diversity is also an outcome of public art as well as a necessary condition for the truly public character of art (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 19). Artists creating public works seem to have this goal in mind: to provoke new experiences and social interaction (Coburn, 2002). Public art not only produces space and activates perception, experiences, feelings, creativity and social interaction and diversity but also is an indicator of high public space quality. William H. Whyte (1988) signifies the importance of “triangulation” in the city and the role that it plays for a successful public space (p. 154). “Triangulation” is a critical factor for a successful public space, which includes the practices and activities of the public realm that create a linkage between people; “(...) that process by which some external stimulus provides a linkage between people and prompts strangers to talk to other strangers as if they knew each other” (Whyte, 1988, p. 154). Especially performative arts in public, such as live music performance, enhance triangulation by bring people together in proximity (Lavrinec, 2011, p. 72). There is a variety of stimulations and practices that could lead to “triangulation”; from unpredictable events to organized activities and spectacles, either negative or positive ones, an object or a person. Public art is considered to be a means of “triangulation”, an attribute of public space6, which prompts people to interact with its physical and symbolical nature and most importantly with each other (Whyte, 1988, pp. 145-146, 154).
2.4.1 Culture-led and Creative Revitalization and Regeneration of Public Space Due to the variety of positive outcomes that public art seems to have in the public realm, there has been a lot of scientific research since the 80s which has focused on the way public art may be a driving force for urban development (Zebracki, 2011). Urban regeneration and public space revitalization policies tend to negotiate more and more the effect of public art in public space and use it as a tool. Charles Landry, one of the pioneers of culture-led and creative regeneration supports that by focusing on the cultural perspectives and possibilities of a city in order to achieve regeneration, planning becomes humanized and therefore successful (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996). According to Hall and Robertson (2001) public art carries six attributes- powers. The first one is that art in public promotes the sense of community and clarifies the cultural identity of the place. Furthermore, it promotes social cohesion by developing social networks and social inclusion. Also, when it comes to more experiential attributes, art in public enhances the senses that a place provides as well as the connections between communities and places. This attribute is tightly linked with the perception and the experience of public space and place. So, it could be argued that public
6 In the present research “triangulation” is incorporated in the attribute of “Uses and Activities” (see chapter 2.1)
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Theoretical Framework art promotes and enhances the perceptions linked to space. A fourth power is the one that is linked to the individual and the fact that public art allows to develop and promote civic identity. In that way, people that are being affected by public art may have the chance to engage further and deeper with space and their sense of belonging. Moreover, apart from its social, spatial and political functions public art may also have an educative purpose. Last attribute in this list is that public art can “act as a provocation for social change”, which is very important when we relate public art with regeneration policies (Hall T., Smith C., 2004, pp. 175-176). Furthermore, Hall and Smith (2004) recognise that public art may have three more outcomes. Firstly, the spatial and aesthetic output that public art has on public space. Of course, public art is tightly connected to social issues but its aesthetic attribute and contribution should also be regarded as of high importance. They also argue that art in public acts as a “medium for the communication of symbolic meanings”. Of course, the majority of artists that work on public projects have in mind to transfer a meaning with their artistic interference, sometimes political, others social, cultural e tc. The third outcome is that public art enhances and promotes participatory and cooperative activity. This power of public art is of high interest for modern cities and regeneration strategies, as it allows people to participate in regeneration procedures and eventually engage deeper with space and place (Hall T., Smith C., 2004, p. 176). Tornaghi (2007) also agrees with the participatory aspect of public art regeneration policies. She argues that “participatory public art can better promote multiculturalism and citizens’ engagement in social issues, integrating its potentials into the delivery of the regeneration policy” (Tornaghi, 2007, pp. 5-6). Culture-led regeneration and Creative Cities seem to be the new tools in the toolbox for contemporary planners and policy makers. There are many examples of good practices around the western world, and especially Europe (Landry et al., 1996). For instance, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and Arts & Business published in 2008 in UK a report of the vision and strategy that they have followed in order to “engage creative minds in regeneration” through public art and cultural events (CABE, 2008). However, Samantha Earl supports that public art should not be used as a panacea to critical urban problems, because in that way it loses all its power as a creative, social and/or political statement (2011, pp. 126-127). It seems that there is a clear purpose of what public art seeks to achieve within the public realm. However, Hall (2003), Hall and Smith (2004) and Zebracki (2011) reveal that there is a gap in the research. Hitherto researchers have answered questions regarding the production and content of public art but they have not yet managed to focus enough on the audience, the people of the city. Earl (2011) supports that “with public art, the first questions asked need to be about audience” (p. 126). How does the audience perceive and experience public art? Accordingly, the present research wishes to shift the scope from public art (in the specific project from music in public) as a means of creativity and culture to the recipient, who is the man that experiences the urban daily life.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
2.5 Music Cognition, Perception and Experience, and the Production of Space The present research differentiates from any former project on public art because it negotiates a performative art, music, which is tightly connected with the sense of hearing and the mental process that follows the sense (music cognition). What is more, music performance is a process that is synchronized spatially and temporally with the audience; the audience, in order to experience music in public space, must be at the same place, at the same time with the musicians that perform. Therefore, the way people perceive and experience this form of art in public space has a striking difference even from its production and creation in contrast to a mural, or a sculpture which are – usually - permanent (Coburn, 2002). Music cognition is basically a psychological, musicological and cognitive research field, which seems to be tightly related with the present research aim: the extent to which music in public space changes the perception people have about the quality of public space. However, since there is no solid theoretical background on the cognitive topic –from the researcher’s aspect – and in order to avoid any “derailment” from the aim, there is a limited reference on the issue of music cognition, purely for supporting reasons. Bibliographical research within this field has shown that even there are a lot of works related to perception and experience, they all seem to negotiate purely musicological themes or psychological. What is more, the majority of works tends to negotiate music perception and experience only from the aspect of the musician and less of the listener. There seems to be no literature relating directly music cognition and the perception or experience of spatial units and attributes. Nevertheless, it is possible to – conservatively - deduce assumptions and arguments of related topics to the research aim. Music is a term that it is difficult to define, not because of its “physical” structure, but mostly because of the codes and symbolisms that carries, which tend to differentiate among cultures. However, Ilie and Thompson (2011) propose a definition that seems to incorporate this symbolic and cultural aspect of music (and speech): “Music and speech are both acoustic signals that can communicate emotional meaning and induce emotional states. As such, they may share a common code for expressing emotion” (p. 247). By attributing emotion to the definition and nature of music, Ilie and Thompson (2011) clearly negotiate the link between music and experience through a communicative process that uses “common acoustic codes” to stimulate neural procedures of cognition (p. 257). “(…) sound becomes music only within the mind of the listener” (Schutz M. , 2009, p. 26). Through this quotation, Schutz (2009) describes in the simplest way the function of music cognition. Mind carries all the cultural background that is needed in order to translate a sound into music. Therefore, music, according to the process of translation and the mind that is completing the process presents a variety of functions. Yi-Fu Tuan (1977), negotiating issues of senses, experiences and space, indicates that sounds have the ability to enhance the sense of space and allow people to specify their spatial position, to instinctively calculate the physical entity of surrounding space as well as to “construe auditory space”; sense of hearing functions as a sort of substitute or even enrichment of sight (pp. 14-15). What is more, “(...) sound dramatizes spatial experience” (Tuan, 1977, p. 16). It could be argued that
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Theoretical Framework sound has the power to give texture and life in a space, and therefore enriching the stimulations that the listener receives, perceives and eventually experiences. Music has the ability to convey emotion directly (Sancar, 2003, p. 273) either through its structural features, such as tone, rhythm, harmony or through the symbolical meanings that is carries (Hargreaves D.J., North A.C., 1999, p. 74). It is an often practice of music teachers to train children on the understanding of major and minor harmonies according to the feeling that they provoke; if it is a happy one, it is major, while the sad is minor. Experiments have shown that it is possible to change a person’s mood through music exposure either for better or for worse (Ilie G., Thompson W.F., 2011, p. 247). What is more, it might be the case that the feelings that are embodied in music are related to personal memories and emotions and therefore bring them to mental and sentimental surface (Krumhansl, 2002, p. 45). However, Krumhansl (2002) suggests that even if one would expect that the representations and feelings produced by music cognition are unique for each individual, this does not seem to be the case; instead, there seems to be homogeneity in the emotions provoked in different people by the same music (p. 45). It seems, that musicians have the opportunity to generate perception and experience based on the emotion that music transfers. Kämpfe, Sedlmeier and Renkewitz (2011) by researching the effects of background music on people’s perception seem to conclude that while exposure to music enhances emotional responses and pleasant feelings, it also restricts mental processes, such as reading and memory (p. 441). What is more, they indicate that music does not always have the same effect on people’s cognitive processes; it might be the case that music causes mere or even no effect (p. 441). This outcome should be kept in mind for the expectations and potential results of the present research, even if background music differs a lot from live performing music, when additional senses are also activated (i.e. sight). Even if in this research there will be no musicological analysis on the type of music that is performed during the empirical research, some main and general characteristics of it and their possible effects are discussed in chapter 3.2.3 “The Music”.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
Picture 3: Music has the power to convey emotion directly. “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev –putting aside its political aspect- is a children’s story and musical composition which presents intense alternations of emotions (fear, happiness) through the musical instruments, the harmonies and the rhythms. This work is often used to teach children musicality and practice their music cognition. Source: http://goo.gl/CSFu6 and http://goo.gl/yOJ5w
It is important, at this point, to indicate a differentiation of the experience of “music listening” and “music performance”. The first case, is that of everyday music listening or “background music” (Kämpfe J., Sedlmeier P., Renkewitz F., 2011), through the stereo or other technological means, and does not always include social interaction, as it might be a purely intimate activity deriving from the hearing sense. On the other hand, music performance, or the attendance of a music event involves not only the hearing sense but also that of vision. Schutz (2009) supports the importance of the musician’s gestures and presence on the overall perception of music (p. 25). This statement is also supported by Thompson, Graham and Russo (2005) who are researching the contribution of visual aspects of music, such as gestures, body movements and facial expressions, to the communication between musicians and audience (p. 177). In the present research the focus is on the second experience, that of music performance, and even more specifically the one of informal music event (Prato, 1984), which demands both performer and listener to be simultaneously affected by music cognition. Music materializes in space (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 869). People usually use the expression “takes place” for a music event. Even from this every-day expression it could be argued that music has also a materialistic nature as it consumes space in order to be practiced. “The physical space for music making- for musical performance- is, then a potential: a thing that is performed and so always in the making.” (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 869). Though Wood
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Theoretical Framework et al. (2007) negotiate music performances in private, closed spaces, and highlight a literature and research gap in this aspect of music performance (p. 873), their approach towards the materialistic aspect of music could also be applied in public space. Another ability that music has is to reflect “social, economic, political and material aspects” of the place that it is produced ( (Cohen, 1995, p. 444); (Sancar, 2003, p. 273); (Duffy, pp. 3, 7-8)). Music functions as a means of transformation and transportation of symbolisms and codes that are carried in the music form from the composer to the performer (those two might be merged) and eventually to the listener. These embodied symbolisms create a sense of identity and belonging to those who are familiar with them and an intriguing – either positive or negative- feeling to those who are asked to perceive them for the first time. “Music also produces place by acting as a context for social gatherings, ritual and celebrations.” (Sancar, 2003, p. 273). In many traditions production and consumption of music is tightly related with social and –often- public events, as it not only carries aesthetic value but also cultural codes and symbolisms (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 872). Prato (1984) negotiates the importance and historical decline of music expression in public space not only in terms of everyday practices but also in terms of –subjective- quality of music (p. 152). Overall, it could be argued that music performance, either in public or private realm, produces space in a Lefebvrian approach. Music produces its own conceived space and representations of space (Lefebvre, 1991); the composer and/or the performer has a conceptualization of the meanings, symbolisms, codes and emotions that the music piece should carry and transmit to the audience. In this way, not only does the audience receive the symbolisms of the music but the music itself gives symbolic form to the space (Tuan, 1977, p. 164). In the present research there is also another aspect of the conceived space; that of the researcher. The researcher, as a planner and/or geographer who wishes to apply a music performance in public space and develop conclusions out of this practice, has created a specific image and concept of how this practice should be implemented and what the possible results could be. Therefore it could be argued, that in the present research there is a dualistic aspect of conceived space: the one of the musician who is performing in public space and the other of the researcher/planner/geographer who has created an image of expectations related to the music performance in public space (see 3.1 Expectations). Music is also a spatial practice; the materialistic nature of music performance consumes space, either public or private, and through the sense of hearing and process of music cognition creates an experience that is highly related to and influenced from spatial perception. Therefore, it could be argued that music either transforms or gives identity to a space (Wagemans, 2011). Prato (1984) also highlights the spatial, rather than temporal, nature of musical performance in public realm and attributes to it architectural form and meaning in order to indicate the sense of environment that music in public space creates (p. 155). Music performance, additionally, enhances social interaction and creates a –even short-termed- network in space. It is interesting that Kushner and Brooks (2000) identify musical performance as a purely social process that derives from the interactions between performer and audience (p. 67). Besides the interaction between performer and audience, there is also the interaction within the audience. This spatial practice of music performance can be attributed to Whyte’s “triangulation” (1988), and therefore be considered as a practice that enhances public space quality. A further negotiation of how music in the public realm affects the
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
attributes of the quality of public space as identified in chapter 2.1 Public Space and Quality of Public Space will be presented in the following chapters (2.6, 2.7 and 2.8). As for the lived space of a music performance, which is also the space of artists (Radice M., Morgan K., Nagler S., 2011), music gives new symbolic interpretation and function of space (Young, 2012). Music in space, and especially in public space, seems to have the ability to attach new meanings to urban daily life and rhythms (Young, 2012). The derived perceptions and experiences of music performance in public space, the lived space, are discussed later on, and on the basis of the empirical research.
2.6 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding comfort The first attribute of public space, as indicated by Project for Public Spaces (2012) is Comfort and Image –from now on it is referred as Sense of Comfort – and seeks to answer the first sub research question. This attribute functions as an indicator of people’s perception of the quality of space in the presence of music performance. However, due to sincere limitations of the available literature on the exact research field, there will be an attempt to inductively negotiate the extent to which music in public space changes the perception people have about the sense of comfort of the public space. Comfort is a quite vast term and therefore difficult to define. It is considered to be one of the basic human needs (Carr S., Francis M., Rivlin L.G., Stone A.M., 1992, pp. 92-95). However, when focusing on the meaning of comfort in urban and specifically public realm it becomes more feasible to define it and identify the factors that produce comfort in space. Carr et al. (1992), when referring to comfort, negotiate the physical and architectural elements of the public space, such as relief from or access to sun and seating areas, as well as more social and psychological characteristics (pp. 92-95). In the present research Sense of Comfort is identified and “measured” in the empirical part of the thesis by three further aspects of comfort of public space, which have been identified through the bibliographical research; attractiveness, pleasure and safety, which incorporate both physical and social-psychological characteristics. Durao (2009) highlights the importance of stimulations and “perceptual data” in space -in this case physical and architectural ones- that would form the sense of attractiveness and pleasure within the public realm. It could be argued, that since “architecture provokes emotional reaction that influences the body” (Durao, 2009, p. 405), the same result might also be achieved through another aesthetical practice, such as music performance. Hall and Smith (2004), also emphasize the contribution of public art, and accordingly music, in the aesthetical enhancement of urban environment (p. 176). What is more, it has been argued that music allows people to identify better their position in - public – space; an ability that seems to affect the sense of comfort (Tuan, 1977, pp. 14-15). Pleasure in public space, might as well be linked not only with physical features of space, but also with experiential ones. It has been aforementioned that music has the ability to revitalize memories, emotions and perceptions ( (Sancar, 2003); (Hargreaves D.J., North A.C., 1999); (Krumhansl, 2002)). Additionally, people participating in a public music performance might have more chances for enjoyment and pleasure as well as even relief of stress (Guetzkow, 2002, pp. 2-3). Anna Minton (2009), in her book “Ground Control” negotiates safety in public space of new-built and privatized areas of Britain. Within this context, she highlights the importance of the “unexpected” and the pleasure that it creates (pp. 53-54). She describes, particularly, a “magical” experience that she
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Theoretical Framework personally had while visiting the Latvian city of Riga, when during a drifting in the old city she got seduced by a melodic sound:
I was wandering around the old town when I heard a saxophone from around the corner and, following the sound, found the musician playing a lone in a snow-covered square. The pleasure of the experience was that it was so unexpected, unlike the feeling that buskers today are placed in strategic spots, which takes away the joy of the moment of discovery. (Minton, 2009, p. 53) Music performance in public seems to be highly related with the Situationists’ philosophy of Dérive and Psychogeography; it is an element of the public realm that enhances the playfulness and creative expression and therefore the pleasant experiences in the city. Therefore, for some listeners, music in public space might create a sense of pleasure and eventually comfort due to the symbolisms and emotions that it carries. Consequently, the presence of music in public space as a practice which produces – positive or negative – emotions and reactions seems to influence the perception of attractiveness and pleasure in the square. When it comes to the sense of safety, as a critical factor of comfort in public space, there is a lot of negotiation of what provokes fear and what not. However, it is not within the terms of the present research aim to present approaches related to public space safety; instead the focus is on the relationship between the music performance and the perception and sense of safety in the public realm. Overall, it could be argued, that privatization and exclusion practices of public space tend to lead to the opposite effect of the desired and planned one; of safety and control (Low S.M., Taplin D., Scheld S., 2005, p. 1). Thereby, when specific social groups are marginalized and some people are restricted access to the space, or even are afraid to visit a public space, the realm lacks in life and social interaction and as a result the perception of safety declines drastically (Jacobs, 1961). Accordingly, Goheen (1998) suggests, that security policies in modern cities prompt the citizens to be afraid in the public realm, to engage in a perception of high criminality, and avoid public life even when there are a lot of people in the public sphere (p. 483). However, music in public space is argued to enhance inclusivity and social interaction (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 19). Landry et al. (1996) also support that cultural events are inhibiting factors for criminal practices due to their inclusive character (p. 16) and thus help to change the perception of safety in the public realm. What is more, music performance in its materialistic form reassures the physical presence of people in the public space. So, even if the musicians are the only people in the square, it is still not empty, and therefore the perception of safety and comfort changes. Massey and Rose (2003) also identify the sense of safety and “anchorage” through the feeling of familiarity of space as a very important process of the public realm (p. 3). It has been argued, that music in public, as well as public art, is a spatial practice (Lefebvre, 1991) which gives identity to a space (Wagemans, 2011) and creates a sense of belonging and familiarity. Therefore, it could be assumed, that music in public space provides a sense of familiarity and belonging to space, which enhance the perception of safety in the public realm, as Massey and Rose indicate (2003). In conclusion, it seems that music performance in public space changes the perception of safety, for better, since it enhances the sense of belonging and familiarity as well as the liveability and physical presence in the public realm.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
2.7 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding sense of community and sociability The second attribute that is important for the quality of public space is the sense of community and sociability that the public space’s users have. Bibliographical research on the factors that affect the perception of the sense of community and sociability reveals that there are three factors that indicate this attribute. First of all, to what extend the public space is perceived as a meeting place, secondly how people perceive and use the playground as a means of socializing and thirdly, to what extent people feel welcome in the square. These three sub-attributes are relevant to the empirical research and are used to reveal the extent to which music in public space changes the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of a public space. William H. Whyte very successfully states: “What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people” (Carr S., Francis M., Rivlin L.G., Stone A.M., 1992, p. 105) and since music is performed by “other people” it could be suggested that music in public space is a means of social attraction. It has been argued that one of the most important qualities of music performance in the public realm is that it produces social activity and social space ( (Tuan, 1977, p. 162); (Sancar, 2003, p. 272); (Hall T., Smith C., 2004)). Cohen (1995) supports that “such musical practices have been shown to establish, maintain, transform social relations and to define and shape material and geographical settings for social action” (pp. 444-445). Her agreement with the production of social relations through music performance states Sancar, who considers music to be a symbolic interpretation of social processes (2003, p. 272). This production of social space through music might as well have a therapeutic outcome for urban societies and communities. Wood et al. (2007) promote the use of music as a means of building social relations and creating social networks in the same way that it is used in health and psychology sciences to “bridge the gap between individuals and communities” (2007, p. 885). While planners and policy makers shift their interest towards the experiences and the emotional representations of public space in order to enhance sociability and sense of community, public events such as a musical performance seem to make a difference. Additionally, public art, and thus music performance, might also provoke public debate; a practice which enhances the democratic role of public space ( (Tornaghi, 2007, p. 4); (Earl, 2011, p. 123)). As mentioned before on the effect of music on people’s perception on safety, social diversity is also a result of public music performance which enhances the sense of community and sociability in the realm (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 19). It is the inherent definition of public space, which promotes the openness and inclusivity of this realm, “regardless of ethnic origin, age or gender” and which allows people to feel welcome in this realm (Cabe Space, 2011, p. 12). In this context, Guetzkow (2002) apart from the production of social space through music performance signifies the positive effect that such events have in the community perceptions of “diversity, tolerance and free expression” in public realm (pp. 2-3). Therefore, it could be suggested that music is a spatial practice which produces social space, social networks and sense of community in a Lefebvrian approach (Lefebvre, 1991). Music in public space is also a way to bring playfulness in the urban realm. Urban play is not only restricted in playground equipment or similar facilities, but also includes the sense of creativity and carefree. Music is a mode that allows urban play, especially in its performative form. It seems to affect adults, but mostly children who get stimulated by the sounds and rhythms and therefore
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Theoretical Framework engage themselves in a more immediate way in this urban play. Urban play, just like a playground, allows children to develop social skills as well as emotional intelligence (Cabe Space, 2011, p. 8). The extent to which a public space is used as a meeting place signifies the sense of community and social networks of the realm. Cabe Space (2011) identifies physical factors (p. 12), as well as practices of cultural and social interest that enhance the identity of a space as a meeting place (p. 13). A meeting place is not only conceived as a space where people physically meet each other, but also a space where social and cultural trajectories are met and interact with each other (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 4). A music performance is such a practice, that allows space to be also produced as space of representations –lived space- (Lefebvre, 1991), and attach to it new experiences and meanings of urban daily life, such as the one of a meeting place and sense of welcome, and therefore change, for better, people’s perception regarding sense of community and sociability .
2.8 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding accessibility Accessibility is an attribute of great importance for a public space. The accessibility and openness of a public space, as well as the role of this space in the urban structure are considered the main factors indicating the value of this attribute. Accessibility is tightly related with the Sense of Community and Sociability in the public realm, as they are both the main characteristics that define a public space both from the physical as well as the social and political aspect (Cabe Space, 2011). This attribute and quality of public space does not only refer to physical and architectural characteristics of the square, such as infrastructures for disabled and/or transportation and traffic regulations, but also to emotional and perceptive factors, like the way people are encouraged or not to be in the square. Factors such as the design and safety of a space (here included also to the attribute of Comfort – chapter 2.6-) are those who create a perception on the accessibility (physical and social) and openness of square. So, as in the case of the sense of comfort, accordingly in the perception of accessibility music in public space seems to create a positive perception and experience towards the design and safety of the realm. What is more, music has the ability to produce sense of identity and belonging with the space that it is performed, and especially when it is a public one (Sancar, 2003, p. 273). Even though familiarity of space is attributed basically in the sense of comfort, it could be argued that it has also a strong connection with accessibility as it allows people to feel safer and therefore more approachable. Openness of a public realm is highly related to the perception of inclusivity. The important role of openness and accessibility of public space is highlighted by Low, Taplin and Scheld (2005) who negotiate social tolerance and integration in urban settings and the ways to achieve it (p. 3). Tornaghi (2007) supports that public art, and thus music performance, is a participatory process which promotes “multiculturalism and citizens’ engagement in social issues” and therefore inclusivity and social integration (pp. 5-6). As a result, when people feel welcomed to participate and attend public events, even the “unexpected” ones (Minton, 2009), they perceive public space as an open and accessible one. Public art has the ability to create and produce its own space (Tuan, 1977). It could be argued, that music in public space, as an expression of public art, produces representations of space, which change the conception and perception that people have about the role of a public space within the
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
urban structure (Lefebvre, 1991). Approaches of city branding and placemaking and urban identity are related to the perception that people have about the public realm and the creative expression and openness of it. As a result, it could be argued that music in public space has the ability to change the perception of the role of a public space, usually in a positive way.
2.9 Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception regarding the use of space The way people use a public space, as well as the degree to which they use it, is a significant attribute. The extent that a public space is considered an active space and the perceptions that people have on the activities taking place there are two major indicative sub-attributes of the use and quality of the space. Modern cities, in order to achieve “safe and clean” urban environments tend to end up with dead public spaces. Anna Minton (2009) negotiates this death of public life for the sake of security and control, and notices that the cause for that is the lack of “real historic and cultural identity” in the planning process (p. 52). Therefore, it could be argued that the presence of creative activities in public space can enhance the overall impression and perception of the vitality of the public realm. Landry et al. (1996) support this statement –even though they refer to urban renewal in general- arguing that “places can be made livelier by establishing cultural activities” (p. 21). Public art and music performance can lead to community participation and in this way to enhance social activity and vitality in public realm (McClish, 2010, p. 862). It has been mentioned before that public art and music performance tend to enhance social interaction and comfort in public space. However, the activities that the users of the square engage in seem to be very indicative of the quality of a public space and the perception related to it. Carr, Francis, Rivlin and Stone (1992) argue that public space is where people engage either in social activities, which enhance the sense of community, or in “private” activities such as “buying or selling things, (for) gardening, (for) self-improvement through exercise, or (for) simply finding a place to exist” (p. xi). Music in public space is an activity of both public and private character; the music performance for the civics is a public event which enhances social interaction, while for the musician oneself, is a private creative activity. Nevertheless, in this research the scope is not focused on the private activity of the musician, rather than both public and private activities of the civics. Additionally, public space might also host activities which provoke fear, crime or protest (Carr S., Francis M., Rivlin L.G., Stone A.M., 1992, p. xi). What is more, the use of a public space is conditioned by citizens’ “perceptions, habits, histories and emotions” (Gaye L., Maze R., Holmquist L.E., 2003, p. 109). These perceptions and emotions are subject to change in the presence of music performance, as it has been negotiated before (chapter 2.5), and therefore change the way people perceive the use of space. If we accept that music in public space enhances social interaction and the perception of meeting place (chapter 2.7), then it could be argued that music performance changes people’s perception of the uses towards more community- and social-related uses. Accordingly, if music has the ability to enhance the perception of safety, then the perception of uses related to criminality and fear tend to decline. .
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Theoretical Framework
2.10 Conceptual Model The whole process of bibliographical research and construction of the theoretical framework in order to achieve the research aim and answer the research sub-questions -at least on a theoretical level- ends up in the production of a conceptual model, which negotiates the basic argument of this research.
Figure 2: Conceptual model of the research: Music in public space and its effect on people’s perception of the quality of public space. Source: author’s edit.
The starting point of the theoretical argumentation of the research is that space is socially produced through the representations of the enclosed relations (Lefebvre, 1991). Lefebvre’s spatial triad negotiates the representations and practices of the social space, by categorizing space according to its production; the perceived space (spatial practices), the conceived space (representations of space) and the lived space (spaces of representation). With this triad, Lefebvre incorporates the symbolisms, perceptions and experiences of public space into a model which negotiates social practices. By applying this concept into the production of public space, it is possible to identify and negotiate the representations and practices that produce social public space. Since the present research is focusing on reflecting on the perceptions regarding the attributes of a – successful- public space (Comfort, Sense of Community-Sociability, Accessibility and Use), which are also the main aspects of the research questions, Lefebvre’s triad is used to negotiate these qualities and highlight their experiential aspect. However, the system of the representations of the qualities of space and Lefebvre’s approach is intersected by the presence of music performance in the public space. Music performance is a
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
creative practice which stimulates the hearing sense and provokes a mental process; that of music cognition. At this moment the user of the space, the citizen, the listener receives both the representations and practices of space (along with its attributes) and the music signal. Therefore, the listener is asked to interpret the qualities of public space through the filter of music. As a result, it could be argued that music in public space might change the perception people have about the quality of a public space and modify the experiences of space. The bibliographical research seems to point to the direction that music performance in public affects public space perception for a variety of reasons (chapter 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9). Eventually, the argument results in a discussion of public space revitalization and regeneration policies as an outcome of music performance in the realm. Lefebvre’s triad is again under negotiation in terms of how the conceived space is related to the lived space and to the spatial practices and vice versa under the effect of a creative and cultural process and production of space. The conceptual model and the overall argument that seeks to answer the research aim and its research questions are empirically tested on a case study; Navarinou Square in Thessaloniki, Greece is the urban public space where the qualities of public space are negotiated and researched in the presence of music performance.
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3. Research Design - Methodology
3.1 Expectations As it is later further discussed, for the specific research a qualitative approach has been chosen and applied in order to get a deeper understanding and reflection of the perceptions and experiences produced. Therefore, it is not possible to have hypotheses which would be tested and negotiated as a quantitative research design would have had. However, it seems to be helpful to introduce the expectations that the theoretical research has provoked, in order to be possible to reflect back on them at the state of the conclusions and discussion (chapter 5). Bibliographical research and the corresponding theoretical outcome seem to indicate that music in public space has a – probably positive – effect on the way people perceive and experience comfort in the public realm. It has been argued that music is a creative practice which produces positive –or negative– emotions and reactions and therefore, due the cognitive process of interpreting these musical symbols, people’s perception of the sense of comfort changes respectively ( (Durao, 2009); (Hall T., Smith C., 2004); (Guetzkow, 2002); (Minton, 2009)). Additionally, the safety factor of the sense of comfort seems also to be –positively – affected by the presence of music, as a result of the enhancement of the sense of belonging and familiarity as well as the sense of livability and physical presence in the public realm ( (Massey D., Rose G., 2003); (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996)). The sense of community and sociability of a public space seem also to be highly influenced by the presence of a creative practice, such as music performance in the realm. The perceptions and experiences that are produced under the effect of music are considered to change the way people socialize and interact with each other ( (Tuan, 1977); (Sancar, 2003); (Hall T., Smith C., 2004); (Cohen, 1995); (Massey D., Rose G., 2003); (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007); (Guetzkow, 2002)). William H. Whyte (1988) and his approach of “triangulation” in the public realm supports strongly this expectation and considers people to be the most important factor of attractions in public. Therefore, a social and creative practice not only is expected to allow people to interact more, but also to enhance social qualities such as cultural diversity and inclusion. A public space is considered to be accessible and open when it mainly presents qualities of inclusivity, multiculturalism and public participation to events. Therefore, public space is considered to be worthy of its definition only when it presents these qualities. Music is expected to play a significant role in the perception of these critical qualities; an open and public event such as the music performance allows people to participate unconditionally and therefore feel more welcome and perceive space as a more accessible, inclusive and open one ( (Low S.M., Taplin D., Scheld S., 2005); (Tornaghi, 2007)). What is more, it is expected that music in public space changes the perception that people have of the role of the public space in the urban structure, probably in a positive way. Last, but not least, the perception that people have regarding the uses and activities of a public space, under the influence of music, are expected to enhance the use of it. This expectation derives from the former estimation that music in public space enhances social activity and interaction, and therefore community- and social-related use ( (McClish, 2010); (Minton, 2009); (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996)).
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
Overall, it seems that the result of the empirical part of the research should be expected to point towards a positive effect of music performance on people’s perception about the quality of public space. However, it should be strongly carried in mind what Kämpfe, Sedlmeier and Renkewitz (2011) suggest and have concluded in their research; music does not always have the same effect on people’s cognitive processes. We should expect that the empirical results might also present a mere effect of music on perception or even no effect (p. 441).
3.2 Methodology In order to answer the research questions, a case study research design is being followed (Bryman, 2001, p. 52). As mentioned before in the theoretical framework, space perception and experience research is tightly related to the identification and evaluation of the attributes of public space (Sancar, 2003, p. 270). Accordingly, the methodological approach of this research seeks to extensively examine the perceptions and experiences produced during a public music event in a public space which carries specific characteristics and attracts specific people. By taking into account all these characteristics that make this public realm –probably- unique, it might be possible to evaluate the attributes and the variables that play a significant role in perception and experience of public realm in the presence of music. The general research design comprises of two, more specific empirical projects. The first one evaluates the perceptions and experiences of the case-study-area without the presence of the music performance, while the second one during the event. After serious considerations regarding the approaches and methods that should be followed for each research project, it is decided that for the in-depth evaluation and interpretation of the perceptions and experiences – while keeping in mind time limitations and capability constraints- a qualitative strategy with some psychogeographical tools will be followed for both cases.
3.2.1 Elaboration of the Methodology into a Working Plan As mentioned above, in order to answer the research sub-questions and eventually achieve the research aim, a double-parted research strategy is followed. The first one seeks to describe the present perception of the public space and the second one the perception during the music performance. The public space under case-study research is a square –Navarinou Square- in the city centre of Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. As it is revealed in the following chapter (4.1) Navarinou square is a historical place in a residential and commercial neighbourhood with a contemporary “tradition” as a place of socializing and public expression. However, throughout the years, and due to severe neglect of the local authorities the square presents social and criminality problems that lead to the decline of the inclusivity and accessibility of the square. As a result, the case study is a public space in need for revitalization and regeneration through procedures that would not harm the inclusivity and openness of the realm.
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Map 1: Navarinou Square and the important places and landmarks. With the sign of the musical note is where the musicians were performing. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit
For both parts of the research strategy, a qualitative and psychogeographical approach is followed. The goal of the research is to define the perceptions and experiences that the users of the square have on a daily basis, based on the four attributes and pylons that characterise a public space; comfort, sense of community, accessibility and use of the square. As mentioned before, these four attributes are elaborated into the four research questions of the corresponding aim (chapter 1.3). For the empirical part of the research, these research questions are translated into empirical questions in order to match the case study. As a result, the empirical research questions of the case study are: 1. To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the sense of comfort of Navarinou Square? 2. To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of Navarinou Square? 3. To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the accessibility of Navarinou Square? 4. To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the use of Navarinou Square? These empirical questions are researched through on spot, semi-structured interviews conducted at the square under two different circumstances: with the music performance in the square and without it. Of course, in the case of the absence of music, the questions do not reflect –at first – the factor of music; they rather search to record people’s general perceptions of the square, based on the four attributes and their sub-attributes, in order to compare and contrast the responses with
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those of the people who got interviewed in the presence of music. As Massey and Rose (2003) suggest concerning the attributes of space:
“(Finally), spaces and places, of course, have both material characteristics and immaterial ones. And the ‘meetings’ which produce spaces and places, the negotiations, are a product of both. On the one hand there are (say) the buildings, the lampposts, the rubbish bins, the railings, the noise and patterns of movement … on the other there are the social relations, and the understandings and emotions – the way people congregate or avoid each other, the differential welcoming and repelling of different groups in different sites, the common understandings of how to behave, feelings of being ‘at home’ or feelings of fear. These aspects are linked and play off each other.” (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 4) Respectively, the group of people that is interviewed is asked to criticise and argue about those attributes of space, both physical and social ones that seem to have a reflection in each person’s perception and appreciation of the square; the material and the immaterial ones. Those perceptions need to be elaborated within a cultural context, in order to evaluate them properly. As Tuan (1977) suggests, social scientists, who do research on space perception, experience, engagement and/or meaning, should always reflect their methods and results into the local culture of their “sample”, as every “culture is uniquely developed in human beings” (p. 5)7. The attributes that have been selected in this research as well as the respective questions and methods are researched within a context of a western culture, and more specifically they are elaborated in a way, which reflects the Greek sense of space and place and especially urban public space. The interviews are conducted on the spot, because of the need to capture the “’raw’ emotions that people experienced during the performance” (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 879). Wood, Duffy and Smith (2007), who have conducted a very similar to this research project, suggest that on- the-spot interviews might not be very clear and mentally structured, but they reflect the “heat of the moment”; a quality that seems to be of great importance when a creative event is involved, because of the cognitive process that it provokes (see chapter 2.5). What is more, in order to apply a more psychogeographical methodological tool, all respondents are given a camera and are asked to take two pictures of objects, landmarks, people, activities in the square; anything that attracts their attention in a good way, or a bad way. The goal is to capture in two pictures what each person finds stimulating in the square. Thus, it is possible to make a comparison between the general perception of the square without the music performance and during it. It should be mentioned that Psychogeography does not suggest specific methods of research and evaluation of the perceptions and experiences of space. However, they propose “the study of the physical effects of the geographical environment on individuals’ emotions and behavior”, which can be mapped in many creative ways, such as photography ( (Barnard, 2004, p. 108); (Bassett, 2004)). Moreover, since it is not possible to apply the Dérive in the specific case study, because of the stability of the event and the specific spatial unit under investigation, photography is considered to be the most proper tool to capture people’s perceptions in a psychogeographical way. Additionally, both respondents’ groups are researched on their opinion regarding the role of music in public space and its potential influence on their perception. This aspect is examined both in the presence of the music performance as well as without it. However, there is a small differentiation on
7 However, Tuan, apart from the importance of the cultural framework, firmly supports the value of “share traits” and “universal values” which are usually neglected in research. (Tuan, 1977, pp. 5-6)
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Research Design - Methodology the questions asked during the interviews (for those without music, the questions are in a hypothetical context and form). For the second part of the strategy, the one with the music performance, a gipsy-swing band, formed for the specific research by professional musicians8 and aware of the aims of the project is performing live in the square. The event takes place during morning and noon hours that the central shops are open and the city centre is at its most vivid time. As the band performs, along with the interviews, since it is legally allowed, a general videotaping of people’s reactions and expressions is carried out. Wood et al. (2007), during a research which seeks to reflect on “a conception of music that emphasizes its being and doing its nonrepresentational, creative, and evanescent qualities”, have used the methodological tool of general video recording (p. 868). They negotiate the methodological quality of video recording by characterizing it on the one hand as a unilateral way of observation, as the researcher subjectively chooses what to record, while on the other a video-recorded data set allows the researcher to analyse the observation in a more controlled way; to view the material multiple times and to observe it as much as possible (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, pp. 880-881). Overall, it is important to note, that a multi-methodological research design is considered to be the most proper one for this research, in order to “prioritize practice and experience” (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 882). This methodological approach, which is called “nonrepresentational thinking” (Wood et al. (p. 882)), is considered to reflect better the angles of perception and experience, while additionally, it enhances the whole research philosophy and design with a twist of creativity; a matching research component for a topic related to arts and culture.
3.2.2 Asking Questions The research strategy, as it has been aforementioned, is based on on-spot, semi-structured interviews. The themes of the interview have derived from the theoretical framework research, and are mainly based on the four “key qualities” that Project for Public Spaces considers as being important for a successful place (Project for Public Spaces, 2012). It should be mentioned, again, that these four attributes apart from being the four pylons on which the theoretical framework is built, they also are the focus of the four sub-research questions of this thesis. All the attributes examined have been chosen based on bibliographical research concerning the evaluation of perception and experience of public space as well as of public art (i.e. (Project for Public Spaces, 2012); (Zebracki, 2011); (Zebracki, 2007) ; (Coeterier, 1996); (Sheikh, 2004); (Massey D., Rose G., 2003)). In order to answer the research questions, regarding the perception and experience of the public space, the concepts/attributes that are being examined in both parts of the strategy are presented in the following list. These concepts and attributes have already been introduced and argued in the theoretical framework (chapter 2.1: Public Space and Quality of Public Space & chapters: 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 & 2.9).
8 Prato (1984, p. 159) signifies the importance of the musical quality and virtuosity for outdoors musical events in terms of evaluating an aesthetic experience.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
- Empirical Research Question 1: To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the sense of comfort of Navarinou Square? o comfort . attractiveness . pleasure . safety - Empirical Research Question 2: To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of Navarinou Square? o Sense of Community-Sociability . meeting place . playground . welcome - Empirical Research Question 3: To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the accessibility of Navarinou Square? o Accessibility . accessibility and openness of square . role of square in the urban structure - Empirical Research Question 4: To what extent does the public music performance change the perception people have about the use of Navarinou Square? o Use . active public space . activities . residency As well as foresheet information like: - Name - Place of residency - Age - Occupation - Gender - Education level - Place of origin - Frequency of visits in a month
It should be noticed, that the same attributes are also examined during the interviews without the music event in order to compare and contrast the results and reach a conclusion. What is more, links between music, perception, experience and regeneration are researched. The questions related to the investigation of these links are stated at the end of the interview, in order to avoid any preoccupation of the interviewee with the subject of research. As stated before, these questions differ among the interviews conducted with music and without music (those without music are on a hypothetical basis), but overall seek to reveal the same links. Overall, 31 semi-structured interviews with users of the square have been conducted – 16 with music and 15 without. It has been estimated that around a 30% of the people that was requested to participate in the interviews finally agreed. There have also been some interviews that it has not been able to complete them, for both interview sets, due to external reasons 9. Of course, these interviews had not been included in the data analysis, but are implicitly taken into consideration. The respondents were approached during their presence in the square and were interviewed on spot. The sample consisted of all types of users of the square during morning hours, as it is described
9 All of these cases have to do with parents or grandparents that their attention was more on watching and chasing their young child, rather than answering the questions. As a result the interviews were not completed.
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in chapter 4.2, in order to give a representative view of the variety of perceptions and experiences of the square. The semi-structure interview guide consisted of 32 questions, based on the guide presented above, while of course giving rise for more questions when needed or changing the order of the questions (see Appendix 1: Semi-structured interview questionnaire). They were all conducted during the first two weeks of May 2012, when the weather was –supposed to be – neither too cold nor too warm; a time when people use more the public spaces of Thessaloniki. There were four daily sessions of interviews, two with music and two without music. Finally, all interviews have been transcribed in Greek, analysed, coded and eventually processed as themes which correspond to each empirical research question and its attributes (see chapter 4: Analysis – Case Study).
3.2.3 The Music When deciding on the music genre that was to be presented, and which of course sincerely affects the research procedure and results, the aim was to choose something of general acceptance, neither too pop nor too alternative; a genre that would be matching with the routine of the day. So, since personal experience of the citizen’s taste on music is granted, gypsy-swing is considered to be the most suitable genre as it is facing a revitalization phase at the moment in the music and dancing circles of Thessaloniki (it is almost a mainstream genre). What is more, people of older ages are familiar to it, since it is a genre that originates back in the 30s through the 50s and their majority tends to like it (indication from Picture 4: Django Reinhardt, the ambassador personal experience). of gypsy-swing. Source: http://goo.gl/BI5IC Gypsy swing music, for all generations of listeners, seems to have a quite specific cognitive output that is tightly related with old nostalgic memories for the older ones, and retro and romantic feelings for the younger ones who might have seen movies, read books and heard stories (Prato, 1984, p. 157). Additionally, many gypsy-swing songs are of intense rhythm, fast and vivid; a characteristic which seems to attract a lot the children. It could be argued that music produces space and sense of place, which is highly influenced by the representations that the particular music genre carries (Duffy, pp. 3, 7-8). The sweet melodies of the music, along with the distinct sound of violin seem to create a retrospective atmosphere, which brings into cognitive and emotional relation, “tunes in”, three different involved participants of the performance; the composer of the song back from the 30s, the musician and the audience from present (Schutz A. , 1999). Despite the great interest that such a phenomenological approach seems to have, it would not be wise to negotiate it further in this thesis, as it might lead the discussion into more musicological and cognitive depths. However, the atmosphere and the cognitive relations that this music genre produces are of high importance and are kept in mind for the analysis and results. As, for the musicians, according to what Prato (1984, p. 159) suggests, they are professionals and their abilities apply to what he calls “technical virtuosity” in order to satisfy the aesthetic experience of the event. The swing band consists of three young, male musicians, two of them playing guitar and the other one, violin. The session is almost acoustic and therefore of a discreet and natural sound presence in the square. What is more, even though the whole event has the main features of
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a busking performance, the musicians do not collect money and they have no sign that they do so (open case, bag, hat, box etc). Therefore, the people in the square -the potential audience- does not have to oblige themselves in a mechanism of consumption, when the listener has to pay the musician in order to enjoy the music; the performance has the form of a “public good” and this fact might have an influence on the final results (Kushner R., Brooks A., 2000, p. 66).
Picture 5: The gypsy-swing musicians who performed during the research. (from left to right) Chris Kosides, Yiannis Vakaloudis and Kostas Vaporidis. Source: author’s
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Analysis – Case Study
4. Analysis – Case Study As it has been discussed in the Theoretical Framework, a music performance “takes place” (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007, p. 869), and in this case the “place” is Navarinou Square; a public space of great rarity in the dense historical city centre of Thessaloniki. In this chapter are presented the main aspects of the empirical research. Firstly, there is a presentation of the characteristics of the case study. The details of the historical, cultural, spatial, economic and social background of the area give a better reflection of what Tuan (1977) recognizes as an important value for the analysis of perceptions and experiences: the local culture. Secondly, there is an explanation of the analytical procedure that is followed and the whole philosophy behind it. It was decided that a discourse analysis of the interviews and the relative data seems to be the most proper one, in order to bring to the light all the aspects of people’s perceptions and experiences as portrayed in their words and expressions. The last part of this chapter negotiates the results of the analysis of the qualitative data: the interviews, the psychogeographical photos and some interesting clues from the video recording. The empirical research questions are answered according to people’s responses and the results are also related to some theoretical approaches.
4.1 Navarinou Square Navarinou Square is one of the few and newest squares in the city centre of Thessaloniki. Its design and development goes back only to the 1970s, when the local authorities and archaeological services decided to start excavation works in the area in order to bring to light the roman Galerian Palace. The excavation works lasted more than a decade and revealed a historical site of great importance and beauty. However, it was only until the end of the 1980s that the square took its modern –but not today’s- form, as an accompanying public space –with no archaeological interest- next to the historical site. Today, visitors and residents enjoy the historical site, which is part of a linear archaeological zone in the city centre (composing the so-called “Galerian Complex”) on a daily basis. However, even though the site had not always been a designed public space, it used to facilitate as an open space for many years (even before Thessaloniki’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire Picture 6: The “Achtse Medjid” neighbourhood, as it in 1912). Before the excavation works of the 70s, used to be until 1960’s. In the centre of the picture lies the area used to be a hilly, open, green space with the neighbourhood’s fountain. Nowadays, in the exact same position lies Navarinou Square. Source: (Τομανάς, a mosque –the White Mosque- and a fountain 1997) (Σομανάσ, 1997, ς. 23). What seems to be of high interest for the area’s historical and cultural background, is the multicultural identity of the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood’s name was
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
“Achtse Medjid” and the people living in the area were of Turkish, Jewish, and Greek –Christian10- origin. This area, as any area in Thessaloniki during those times (before the city’s liberation) was an ethnologically mixed area, where people despite each other’s ethnicity and religion were enjoying each other’s company and respecting the different origin. The open, public space in the middle of the residential area was a place of cultural diversity expression, where all people were included in the rhythms of the daily –hard and poor- life. Kostas Tomanas (Σομανάσ, 1997, ς. 24) in his memoires from his childhood back in the beginning of the 20th century says that “The big fountain was for all the nationalities of the neighbourhood. Jewish and Christians used to take water during all day, while the Turkish women, with their breeches and their veils, used to go only at dawn, so that no one could see them.” (Σομανάσ, 1997, ς. 24)11. Even when, after the city’s liberation, the Turkish population had to abandon their houses (Γερόλυμπου, 2007), the neighbourhood was still very alive, and so was the “square”. In the place of the Turkish families were now residing (in the decade 1923-33) Greek immigrants from Smyrni (Izmir) and the rest of Minor Asia, who were also forced to leave their homes during the Greek-Turkish wars. The new population managed to mix with the old one, and they were expressing their public life every night in the small taverns around the “square” (Σομανάσ, 1997, ς. 24). Until the end of the 1980’s, when the square took its final form, the majority of the old houses have been demolished in order to build new blocks of flats that could provide housing to the h uge amount of people coming to live to the big city from the countryside. Even though the modern square seems to have lost any resemblance to the old one, there are still two perennial sycamore trees and a fountain underneath to bring back memories of the multicultural history not only of the area, but also of the historical city centre of Thessaloniki.
Picture 7: Navarinou Square and the archaeological site (the Galerian Palace) in the late 80s, straight after its construction. Source: Postcard from www.flickr.com
10 During those times in the Balkan region, it was religion that signified an identity and not the place of origin as such. 11 Free translation from the author
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Since the late 80’s there have been some changes to the area. First of all, the major street that was in front of the historical site –Gounari Street12- was transformed into a strictly pedestrian road in order to link the Galerian Palace with the other sites of the Galerian Complex that lie on the northern part of the road. Because of this transformation, the streets around the square, even though the authorities did not change the traffic regulations, stopped having as much traffic as they used to have. Today, those streets are rarely used by vehicles and according to local’s opinion this fact has made the square probably the safest public space in the city centre. During the last 20 years there have been some conservative changes to the landscape design of the square, with the most important change being the construction of a small playground. A decorative fountain at the “entrance” of the square with a variation of the Belgian Manneken Pis is considered to be the landmark of the place, while the pavement around the square is now used as a leisure area, with cafe and restaurant terraces.
Picture 8: Young children during a school trip in the square take pictures of “peeing boy”. This fountain is considered to be the landmark of the square. Source: author’s
12 Today, in everyday local talk, people refer to this pedestrian street also as Navarinou Square, or Navarinou Street. However, the official name of the road is Gounari Street.
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Music in Public Space: Changing Perception, Changing Urban Experience?
Picture 9: Navarinou Square today. Source: www.bing.com/maps
Navarinou square is in the eastern end of what could be called the commercial axis of Thessaloniki’s city centre. While the square itself does not have any commercial activity, except for that of leisure, the neighbouring streets are the financial heart of the city. Small family stores, as well as world-wide known brands and multinational enterprises have stores in the wider area, placing the square in a zone of very intense everyday activity. The everyday activity of the square is also enhanced by the very big amount of people that have their offices or work in the service sector of the area. Public as well as private services are based within a small radius from the square and it should not be forgotten that this square has a significant touristic value. As a result, people use the square on a daily basis either for recreational reasons, or just as passers-by. What is more, it seems like the last few years there is a tendency for many businesses and organizations which are related to the creative industry to settle in the area. Young artists, non-government organizations, shops related to arts and radio stations seem to get inspired by the place and of course leave a feedback to the place by giving the area a more alternative, creative and vivid mood13. However, Navarinou Square has a bad reputation in the local population and press. The reasons behind this discourse as well as the identity of the users of the square are discussed in the following chapter (4.2).
13 Unfortunately, there has not yet been any academic research related to these facts. These statements are based on my personal and other’s people perception and unofficial research. Some of these businesses and organizations that are established in the area of Navarinou Square are: 1. Navarino Network - www.navarinonetwork.org/ 2. The Box Gallery – www.theboxgallery.com 3. Tselios Musical Instruments - http://www.tseliosmusic.gr 4. Up ‘n’ Loud web radio - http://www.upnloud.gr/
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Map 2: Navarinou Square and its position in the historical centre of Thessaloniki. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit.
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4.2 The Users and Respondents As it has been aforementioned, the qualitative research design with the semi-structured interviews is referred to all users of the square during the morning hours. As a result every type of user of the square that is described below refers also to a type of respondent. But, who are the users of Navarinou Square? To begin with, there are three main groups of users during the morning hours, more or less of the same quantity. First of all, there are many parents (or grandparents) with their (grand-) children during the morning and noon. As soon as the schools are out, the square, which has a part of it designed as a playground, fills with children and their parents. This group of users tends to locate itself in the square at the northwest part, where the playground equipment is, as well as the main part of the square with the benches (see Map 3). This group seems also to be the most socially and culturally active one. Some parents who use this square on a daily basis formed two years ago a non-governmental organization called “Paidi stin Poli – Child in the City”. In the last two years they have organized a couple of children-associated events in the square in order to raise the awareness of the importance of this public space for the down-town residents to the local authorities and media, who seem to neglect the square. Moreover they have tried to rearrange a Picture 10: Parents and grandparents enjoying the first few facilities of the space in order to make it more days of summer in the playground under the shade of the tree (May 2012). Source: author’s pleasant and clean. The fact that there is a group of people who support the role of the square so intensively indicates that the square is socially and culturally alive and that there are people who really recognize the value and importance of the square. The second group of users are the elders. These are mainly residents of the city centre who like to take a walk and sit somewhere where they can enjoy some trees and maybe some old friends. Of course Navarinou Square, as most squares, has many pigeons, which are mainly taken care of from older people (Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces - The Street Corner, 1979). The elders usually use the main part of the square, where the benches and the shades of the trees are (see Map 3 and Picture 11). Picture 11: With the first sun after a heavy winter elder people go to the square to enjoy the nice weather of March (2012) and the company of their friends. Source: author’s
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The last morning users are the students and young professionals. This group uses mainly the cafeterias and the terraces at the northwest perimeter of the square. Navarinou Square is in close proximity with the University area14 and therefore serves as a very convenient destination for leisure. What is more, the area around the square hosts many offices and public services and thus attracts young professionals who tend to have their break in the cafeterias or cross the square on a daily basis in order to go to work.
Picture 12: Young people sitting at the terraces of the cafeterias on the perimeter of the square. Source: author’s
However, there are also two more groups of users, which have not been mentioned yet. The first one is the group of dogs. There are many stray dogs in the wider area of the square that are not under anyone’s authority or attention and wander around. The dogs tend to use the green surfaces of the square, where they make a lot of dirt. Apart from the stray dogs, though, there are also the private ones. The square is a frequent meeting point for dog-owners and their animals, on a daily basis. Picture 13: One of the square’s stray, but very friendly, dogs. Source: author’s As it might have been noticed, until now the research tends to focus on the daily activities and users. This is because as soon as the sun goes down, a new group of people uses the square. Drug addicts, homeless people, immigrants and other marginalized people tend to gather at the southeast part of the square, near the historical site. This meeting point has been established many years ago, almost
14 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and University of Macedonia
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as soon as the square was constructed. Since then, the criminality in the area seems to have risen, with drug dealing and incidents of pick pocket and burglaries being common news for the local community. The reasons behind this phenomenon vary, but no official research has been conducted on the topic until today as well as –almost- no official measures. The perceptions towards this effect are also reflected in the research analysis and will be discussed in the following chapter ( 4.5). By the fact that so many different groups of users find their place during the day in Navarinou Square, it could be argued that this public space is a meeting place where “numerous trajectories of all kinds (are) brought together in physical proximity” (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 4). However, the overall discourse that reflects the square’s bad reputation in the local population and media is tightly linked with the gathering of the marginalized people. The way every group uses the square reflects a social marginalization which is also translated into a spatial one. Each user’s group has its own place in the square and they try not to interfere with each other. It seems like the users of the square have not yet managed to overcome the challenge of negotiating the trajectories and set the differences aside (Massey D., Rose G., 2003, p. 4). As it will be discussed later, there are constant conflicts among almost all groups of users of the square –even within the groups - and tolerance as well as diversity seems to be a discussion that no one wants to start first.
Map 3: The position of the users in Navarinou Square. There seems to be a perceived border, starting from the fountain that separates the daily users from the socially –and spatially- marginalized people. Source: Bing Maps and author’s edit
In respect of the identity of the respondents (see also Appendix 2: Overview and Profile of the Respondents), the majority belongs to the groups mentioned above. They are young parents who visited the square for the playground, elder people who are also accompanying children or came to the square to relax, people walking the dog, students and young professionals. Moreover, even though the research was not a quantitative one, it seems that the square is used more by women rather than men. The ages vary from 18 to 65+ and the people who responded to the interviews and
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belong to the financially active population tend to be high educated and employed. Their occupations are of great variety but there are also many students. As for the place of origin and present residency the majority of the respondents replied that they were born i n Thessaloniki and also live in the city. Moreover, most of the respondents are regular visitors and users of the square with a presence of 3-4 times per week. Nevertheless, since the semi-structured interviews have been conducted only during morning and noon hours it should be kept in mind that it was not possible to record the marginalized people’s perceptions towards the research theme. However, it should be noticed, that it is not this research’s aim to highlight and discuss the problems of Navarinou Square, such as marginalization or cultural diversity and democracy. The goal is to negotiate people’s perceptions and experiences, which are probably tied to these problems, under the prism of a music performance.
4.3 Methods For the analysis of the empirical data it is believed that a discourse analysis is the most proper method in order to reach into deep people’s perceptions towards the quality of the square and highlight their opinions (Bryman, 2001, pp. 499-500). “Language creates realities” and these realities reflect the perceptions of the respondents (Hajer, 2006). Additionally, through a discourse analysis it is possible to take into consideration the cultural background of the respondents, as Tuan indicates (1977). Even if the interviews have been conducted in Greek, a language which carries much of its meaning in voice tone and expressions, there is an attempt to transfer the gist and essence of the discourse in English. What is more, the photographs taken during the psychogeographical collection of data are analysed following a visual methodology of discourse analysis (Rose, 2001, p. 135). Gillian Rose (2001) makes a distinction among two forms of discourse analysis. The first one, which is also used in this research, negotiates more the discourses produced by “visual images and verbal texts” while the second one deals more with institutional practices (pp. 140-141). The first approach is tightly related with the social representations that people produce of space (Rose, 2001, pp. 161-162). Therefore, it is considered to be the most appropriate methodological tool to analyse the psychogeographical data, which reflect respondent’s perceived and lived space (Lefebvre, 1991). In this case, respondent’s psychogeographical data and the included representations are also negotiated in relation to the interviews and the respective responses. What seems to be the interest of the psychogeographical photos is not the object pictured rather than the choice of the specific object and the reasons behind its choice; the interest is on the respondent’s view towards the square. Moreover, it is not only the psychogeographical data that are analysed and reflected through a discourse-related approach, but also the accompanying photographical dataset that was captured during the experiments/musical performances by the researcher and wishes to reflect aspects of the attributes of the square and the social interactions.
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4.4 Data Analysis By following a discourse analysis, it was possible to go into depth of what the respondents say, and how they say it. Discourse analysis, as a methodological expression of Michel Foucault’s philosophy, has the power to analyse the discourses of speech that depict and “frame the way we comprehend” the object under study (Bryman, 2001, p. 499). Especially when the respondents are called to evaluate attributes and objects related to their urban environment, as it is in this case, discourses seem to have a great value as they are also tightly related to perceptions; discourses are perceptions put into words in a specific way, using specific words in order to describe and evaluate an attribute. However, since all interviews have been conducted into Greek it seems hard to translate and transform into English the discourses used and identified in the data analysis. Therefore, apart from translating the quotations, there is an attempt to put all quotations and discourses into a context that would allow the data analysis to be of better value. In the following diagram is presented the coding that has been followed in order to analyse the qualitative data. The coding derives from the interview themes as well as the answers that the respondents gave, and is based on the four attributes of space, the pylons of the theoretical framework, that are investigated by the research questions and here, by the empirical questions. In order to answer the first empirical question, regarding the perceptions of the sense of comfort in the square, the sub-attributes that are tested are those of attractiveness, pleasure and safety. Each sub-attribute is reflected on respect of other more specific values and factors that are tightly related to the case study as they have derived from the respondent’s answers. For instance, on the subject of safety, the issue of the drug addicts and the marginalised people is not firstly mentioned by the researcher, but the interviewer expects the interviewee to refer on one’s own on the issues that are perceived as important and continue the discussion. The expectations of the analysis of these attributes are related to an enhancement of the sense of comfort due to the music performance. In the next sub-chapter (4.5) these expectations are further discussed. The second empirical research question seeks to reflect on people’s perceptions about the sense of community and sociability of Navarinou Square. As in the first case, the three sub-attributes that are tested have been negotiated in the theoretical framework (chapter 2.7) and the values that evaluate them have been constructed out of the interviewees’ responses. The expectations for the effect of music performance on this spatial quality seem to be also positive. However, the result of the discourse analysis is presented in chapter 4.6. Accessibility and the role of Navarinou Square in the urban structure of Thessaloniki is the third pylon of the empirical research. According to the two previous empirical questions and their coding, the nodes of these sub-attributes are also derived from the responders’ perceptions. The fourth pylon of the quality of public space and its translation into an empirical question seek to highlight the uses of the square as well as the perceptions of the liveability of Navarinou Square. All uses included as nodes of the coding have been mentioned by the respondents. Moreover, in this empirical question the user’s willingness to reside in the area of Navarinou is also considered valuable, as it seems to indicate the intimate feelings, perceptions and experiences that an individual might have for a place. Apart from the empirical questions which are developed and coded into nodes, there are also some free nodes, which are related to the respondent’s general perception on the subject of music
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performance in public space as well as their opinion on the perspective of music performance in Navarinou Square. These questions are common for both sets of interviews with music and without music in the square, and it is the moment when the respondent understands the purpose of the research and reflects one’s conscious view towards the subject. On the contrary, the four empirical questions – during the interviews with music- are discussed without mentioning, from the researcher’s side, that music performance plays a role, in order to capture the subconscious effect of music on people’s perceptions and experiences. Last, but not least, the analysis of the psychogeographical data reflects respondent’s perceptions towards the experience of Navarinou Square. There has been an attempt to relate text to image, as Rose indicates, in order to apply discourse analysis. Therefore, there have been attributed specifi c key-words to each picture which derives not only from what the respondent captured in the photograph, but also what he/she stated during the interview. In this way, it is possible to analyse visual, psychogeographical data and simultaneously link them to the respondent’s discourse. However, they are not discussed in a different coding; rather they are embodied in the discourse analysis of the text data. In order to analyse the data and reach a solid conclusion it is important to always keep in mind to make connections and comparisons between the two sets of interviews: with music and without music. For this reason, an attempt has been made to develop and use a tool in order to compare discourses. While in quantitative research the comparative methods are far more clear and specific due to the use of numbers and percentages to describe a phenomenon, in qualitative it is more complicated. Apart from the comparison that is made between the discourses used to evaluate the attributes of the coding diagram below, there is also an attempt to compare discourses used to describe situations, people, habits and other attributes and factors that came up spontaneously during the interviews and should be evaluated.
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Figure 3: Discourse analysis coding. Source: author’s62
4.5 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Sense of Comfort of Navarinou Square Comfort in public space, is one of the four main key qualities of a successful place according to Project for Public Spaces (2012). The main attributes into which comfort is deconstructed in order to evaluate the sense of comfort that Navarinou Square provides are attractiveness, pleasure and safety. These attributes, along with more specific values are discussed in order to make conclusions regarding the extent to which music in public space affects people’s perception about comfort.
4.5.1 Attractiveness of Navarinou Square To begin with, the respondents have been asked to evaluate the attractiveness of the square. Navarinou is considered to be one of the few open public spaces in the city centre of Thessaloniki and therefore, its importance is very high for the downtown residents and users. “I like that it is quite, (...) that it is cool to sit under the sycamore tree and that you can enjoy a little sense of green! It is a good urban landscape!”, says a 39-year old male respondent. However, the majority of the respondents seem to be unsatisfied with the attractiveness of the square (see Table 2). The square’s design and the overall cleanliness and maintenance of the environment and the infrastructures seem to be the major problems of the square. People seem to be really frustrated with the condition of the square: “There’s nothing that I like! The environment, the fountain is a shame, the playground is a shame, the flowers are wilted, the grass is yellow, the dogs shit and piss everywhere!”, responds a furious young man, without the presence of music. Of course, this is the most exaggerated response regarding the square’s attraction; however it is indicative of how people perceive its attractiveness. In terms of design, people say that it is not very bad, but it could have been better. “It could have been better” is an expression that has been repeated by many respondents in both cases: with and without music. “Yes, I believe that (the square) is a nicely designed space, it could have been better, but it is not an easy thing to change now” states a middle-aged woman, without music, while a 50- year old woman with her grandchild suggests that “(...) it is a big space, but it is not a well-exploited space”. From the discourse analysis regarding that “it could have been better” an interesting result came up: the respondents with the presence of music while stating their complaint the y also suggested what could have been better. On the other hand, the respondents without music just stuck on the complaint and did not make any further suggestions. There seems to be tendency for those people who answer under the effect of music to be more explanatory and descriptive when referring to the design problems of the square. Along with the expression “it could have been better”, another often complaining phrase that is related to the institutional structure of the authorities is that “in Greece nothing’s right”. People in Greece, generally, tend to say that a lot when asked to comment on issues of everyday life and public life. A young male cook with an alternative style states that “in Greece nothing is right and nothing is nice” when asked to comment on the attractiveness of the square in the presence of music. Even if the responses between those who said this expression with music and those without do not have any difference, it is interesting to mention that this negative position of Greek people towards anything of public interest is a common discourse, especially the last four years with the recession moving deeper and deeper in all aspects of everyday life. This state of Greek psychology seems to play a significant role on how people produce their conceived and lived space, as it reflects what Tuan (1977) calls the cultural background, and there will be a further reflection on the issue in the conclusions (chapter 5).
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What was also noticed during the field-work is that the paved area of the square, which is in the middle of the space, is almost not used. It is a dead public space. It is assumed that the main reason is the very intense sun and the fact that there is no overshadowing. However, during the field-work that was conducted with the music band (which spatially was facing this paved area) there seems to be a slight change on this observation. Usually, people tend to gather around street musicians in order to observe them, but in this case it didn’t happen; people preferred sitting in any shadowy area and listening to the music from a distance. As you can also see from Picture 14 not only is the paved area empty, but also the benches next to the musicians. However, after a while that the music was playing, children started to gather around the musicians, but not in order to observe them, at least not obviously, but to play football (Picture 15). From time to time, there were some of those children who took some time to turn their heads to see the musicians, or even sit next to the band. “I play the violin too. I like this music a lot!” said the boy in Picture 16 who “abandoned” the football game in order to sit next to the band and observe them. There were also some other girls that left the playground and moved to the fountain to play so that they can also see the music (Doumpa, 2012). A grandfather with his granddaughter was strolling and decided to stand in a small nearby shaded area to watch the band (Picture 17). There were many similar incidents of people stopping for a while to observe the band, but because of the intensity of the sun and the lack of shadow nearby they wouldn’t stop for a long time. It seems that even if the musicians did not manage to gather any people around as a proper audience, the music managed to gather at least the children on the paved area. This is what William H. Whyte, calls the quality of “triangulation” ( (1979); (1988)); it is the stimulations that are provided to the people in order to bring life to public spaces and provoke social interaction. Street music is one of these stimulations and activities that Whyte also recognizes as being very efficient towards this aim.
Picture 14: The distance between performers and audience: In the beginning of the musicians’ performance the children and parents were using only the playground area and the sitting area under the tree. Source: author’s photo.
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Picture 15: Children using the paved area to play football, while the music plays. Source: author’s photo
Picture 16: The boy, who some minutes ago was playing football with the other children, stopped and sat next to the musicians to listen to them. Source: author’s photo.
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Picture 17: A grandfather with his granddaughter standing in a small shaded area next to the musicians in order to listen to them from close. Source: author’s photo.
The problem of the lack of shadow areas is also related to the respondent’s request for more “green” in the area. Even though the square has a peripheral zone of trees and grass, this area is not used by the users, mainly due to cleanliness reasons and because there are no sitting are as in the green zone. The only bench underneath a tree and protected from the sun is in front of the playground and, of course, this is the most “popular” place in the square. However, the majority of the respondents recognize that compared to other open spaces in the city centre of Thessaloniki, this square has a lot of green; but they always wish for more! “I wouldn’t mind a little more colour. One more tree, two, three, four, something!”, says a 20-year old man. From a view Table 2, there seems to be a difference among the respondents with music and without music. The respondents answering without the presence of music seem to have referred more to the environmental conditions in contrast to those being interviewed in the presence of music performance. When it comes to the matter of cleanliness and maintenance, all of them are very decisive: the square lacks a lot in this field! People’s perception of cleanliness and maintenance of the square is tightly related to dogs littering everywhere, infrastructures not being cared of and no public cleaning services. “I will take a picture of what “sleeps” here... the shit... because we call this place... we call it the park with the shit... where shall we meet? At the park with the shit!” says humorously a middle aged woman who was there with her friend and their children. When this woman was asked to take a picture of what she thinks as more indicative of the square, well, her first choice was indicative of what she describes in her quote. Unfortunately, neither the municipality, not the dog owners take care of the place according to their responsibilities, making the place very inappropriate for young children. Many parents referred to this problem as a reason for not perceiving the square as an attractive place. Respondents of both interview groups seem to firmly agree that the place lacks in
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cleanliness and maintenance, and no significant difference between their responses is recorded, probably because of the seriousness of the problem. In terms of equipment -a factor which refers mostly to the parents and grandparents with children- respondents of both sets seem to agree that the infrastructures are not sufficient. The main reason is that because this place is one of the few squares and playgrounds in the city centre, the demand is very high. As a result, during rush hours (i.e. after school) there is not enough space and equipment for all the children. There were some respondents who took a picture of the playground equipment in order to state this problem with the overcrowding and lack of proper infrastructures, such as in Psychogeographical Picture 1, where a grandfather spent both his shots in order to portray the problem of the equipment. Another very important factor for evaluating the effect that music has on people’s perception regarding comfort and in this case attraction of the square, was Psychogeographical Picture 1: Playground the historic aspect of the square. It seems very equipment, and infrastructures not suitable for important to indicate whether people are aware and very young children. Source: author’s (photo recognize the historical validity of the area, since the taken by respondent 15B) conceived space and its accordingly representations of space is supposed to impose a historical sense of lived space and spatial practices (Lefebvre, 1991). It could be argued, that unfortunately, people do not pay much attention to the historical site. There were only a few people , from both sets of interviews, referring to the site and most of them did not know what it is exactly (naming it with different –wrong- names). Some of them complained about the poor condition of the site and that it is not actually accessible: “(...) they should have taken more advantage of the ancient site” says a male student who was resting at the square. There were also a very small percentage of people who took a picture of the archaeological site in the psychogeographical practice, indicating the lack of perception of the square as a part of a historical place. What seems of high interest is that this small percentage derives only from the respondents of the group without music. Another factor that at first was not considered to be important for the perception of attractiveness is the human factor. The majority of the respondents of both sets of interviews when asked about what they like and/or don’t like in the square referred to the people, the users of the square. Most of them reflected a positive attitude towards this factor: “I like that (...) there are lots of people, children, and all this noise is nice, because you feel that there is life!”, responds a middle-aged female lawyer. However, there was a portion of the respondents who said that they avoid being at the square because of the people: “What I don’t like is the people that is here... especially during night times...”; this female student who was walking her dog reflects a perception that many respondents have concerning the people using the square after sunset. This issue is tightly related to the sense and perception of safety that the respondents have, and which is elaborated a few paragraphs later. So, concerning the attributes and factors that Project for Public Space’s “Place
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Diagram” (2012) suggests to be important for the quality of a place, it could be argued that people play a significant role and should be added as factor of comfort in the diagram. The last two factors of attractiveness that people evaluated are the entertainment facilities that lie peripheral to the square and the spatial position of the square. In both sets of interviews, interviewees evaluated in a positive way those two factors. Especially for young people and students, the cafes and restaurants of the square are those that characterise the place and make it a landmark of student life in Thessaloniki: “(…) my cousin, seven years ago, used to be a student here and she used to come in this area and she told me that here is where the student’s hangout is. So, as a student Psychogeographical Picture 2: An empty glass of myself, I have to learn about this place… since I am coffee. Respondent 3A took a picture of the glass of coffee, in order to indicate the importance that this also from another town… where else can I go? related activity has in her perception of the place. Here!” This female student’s quote, who also comes Source: author’s (photo taken by respondent 3A) from the countryside, reflects the perception that young people and students have about the square. It is a place where other people, of the same age hang out, drink their coffee, play table - games, eat and spend their time between study breaks. This perception of the square is also visualized in Psychogeographical Picture 2, where the female student respondent captured this glass of frappe coffee as her most intense impression. As for the square’s position, people highly appreciate its location in the heart of the commercial, service and residential area of Thessaloniki. Some of them highlight the importance of its location, as it allows them to multitask; as a young mother reflects: “I like the fact that it is in the city centre, because I have the ability to shop something if I need to”. Another aspect that it is thought to be valuable is to research the priorities that the respondents had in mind when asked about the attractiveness of the square (see Appendix 3: Discourse Analysis of Respondents’ Priorities Towards the Factors and Values of Attractiveness in Navarinou Square). The interviewees did not get guided towards the subject that they should first talk about. Therefore, it is considered that the first things that they talked about when discussing about the attraction of the square are also those which seem to be of greater importance to them. This prioritizing of the values Psychogeographical Picture 3: “I would like to spend and factors of square are presented in Table 1 and is some time in the square because I can sit on the grass. (…) it’s not easy to find it in the city…” says a structured in a way so that conclusions regarding the young male student and reflects the importance of comparison among the two groups can be made. As the “green” on people’s perceptions of the square. Source: author’s (photo taken by respondent 7A) it is illustrated in Table 1, the respondents of both groups seem to have the value of design as the most important one for the square, but it seems that for the respondents under the music cognition process, design might be a little more important,
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since a bigger amount of people has also stated this value as a second one. Another interesting aspect is that of environment; people without music gave higher importance to this value than those with music, who referred to that only later in the discussion. It also seems that people with the presence of music seem to give higher importance to the factor of “people” compared to those without music, and thus giving a little more clarity to this comparison, as in the first stage of discourse analysis both groups seemed to have the same perceptions of this value.
Priorities of Attractiveness without music quality 1 quality 2 quality 3 quality 4 quality 5 quality 6 clean./maint. 1 3 1 4 0 0 design 6 3 2 0 4 0 entertainment 1 0 3 0 0 1 environment 3 5 1 4 1 0 equipment 0 0 6 2 0 0 historical site 1 0 0 2 1 1 people 1 4 1 1 1 3 position 1 0 0 1 2 0 with music quality 1 quality 2 quality 3 quality 4 quality 5 quality 6 clean./maint. 0 3 4 1 1 0 design 6 5 1 1 2 1 entertainment 0 1 1 0 1 0 environment 0 1 6 2 0 0 equipment 3 1 1 2 0 0 historical site 0 1 0 0 1 1 people 5 1 1 2 0 0 position 2 2 0 1 0 1 Table 1: Analysis of the priorities of attractiveness of Navarinou Square as stated by both groups of respondents. The numbers in the cells refer to the amount of responders who reflected on this topic, while the number of quality refers to the prioritizing of each attribute. The values in the blue cell are those which seem to have the highest importance, and therefore greater interest. Source: author’s data and edit.
From the psychogeographical process there has been also another interesting result related to the attractiveness of the square. By analysing the pictures that the participants of both sets of interviews captured, it can be concluded that the majority perceives the little-boy’s fountain and the playground as the most dominant stimulations and objects of the square. Both these “objects” function as landmarks of the square. Especially in the case of the fountain, Carr, Francis Rivlin and Stone (1992) suggest that the presence of water elements in a public space attracts people and interest (p. 113). Jane Jacobs (1961) considers the presence of landmarks of high significance, in the sense that makes those places distinct and recognizable to all as well as that it gives the space a sense of identity; landmarks enhance spaces to places.
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Psychogeographical Pictures 4 and 5: One of the “portraits” of the fountain and the playground: the two most photographed parts of the square. The little boy’s fountain is a psychogeographical reflection of a male student’s perception of the square, and the playground of a young female student, who is also from the countryside. Source: author’s photos
As it is reasonable, people also captured in the frame the problems of the square: low-maintained infrastructures and poor equipment, dirt, bad condition of the green spaces are the major problems identified through the photographical lens. Especially in the case of the water spring (Psychogeographical Picture 6) many mothers referred to it, since there is no water provided in order to clean their children. What is more, for the historical background of the square, this water spring seems of great importance, since it is in the place where the old, traditional spring of the Psychogeographical Picture 6: Example of low- ottoman years used to be (see chapter 4.1) maintained infrastructures: a spring that does no longer function. Source: author’s photo (respondent 14B) 4.5.2 Pleasure in Navarinou Square When it comes to evaluating the pleasure of being in or crossing-by the square, the responses of both sets of interviews reflect a positive perception. However, by looking at Table 2 it could be argued that with the presence of music people feel more pleasant. There were some respondents –a small minority- who at this point mentioned by themselves the existence of the music band in the square and the pleasure that they offer: “I don’t usually spend time in the square. But today that I liked it I thought of sitting for a while… and I sat. And I liked it a lot that there are swing musicians Psychogeographical Picture 7: Musicians Performing. today!” reflects a young male engineer who Picture captured during the Psychogeographical test by a young girl who was walking her dog. Source: enthusiastically referred to the music. The pleasure author’s (respondent 13B) that the music performance adds to the perception and experience of the square is also identified in the psychogeographical data. An important amount of the respondents captured in their first picture
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the musicians, indicating that it was the first thing that stimulated them in a creative way and that there might be a strong connection between pleasure in public space and musical performance. On the other hand, those who do not find any pleasure in being in the square are those who do not feel comfortable with the people that use the square: “It depends on the people who will be in the square at the moment” says a male student. The issue of the “other” users of the square comes up again when talking about safety, indicating that feeling nice in a place is related to the safety that one feels.
4.5.3 Safety in Navarinou Square The next and very important attribute that strongly affects the perception of comfort is safety. As it can be identified from Table 2 there is no such difference between the perceptions indicated by the responses with music and without music. However, since the issue of safety in public space is of high importance for this square, it is suggested that a wider discussion on the subject should be made. While all the respondents feel safe during morning hours, the majority of them answered that they feel unsafe and uncomfortable after the sunset. Some of them did not want to specify the reason, but most of them implicated the “other users” of the square; the drug addicts and homeless people that find shelter for many decades in the benches and sitting areas of the square after the sun goes down. Since a discourse analysis has been followed, it is important to mention that there was huge variety of characterizations used by the respondents in order to refer to this social group. It is speculated that people were avoiding naming this social group as “drug addicts”, “homeless people” or something relevant, in order to be politically correct. However, the discourse analysis has shown that the people who were interviewed in the presence of music used more negative and slung words than the respondents without music, who were more general and neutral in their characterizations. It could be argued that the cognitive process of the music performance might make people more relaxed in the way they express themselves, and therefore use much more intense and less “politically correct” words in their discussion of the marginalized population. This result is discussed in the conclusions chapter (chapter 5) in order to reflect the factor of social tolerance and inclusivity in terms of music performance in public space. What seems as a controversy towards the general discourse on the marginalized population is that from the thirty one interviewees who were asked about the safety issue no one referred to any incident that would justify their reasons for feeling unsafe. On the contrary, there are a few people who admit that the drug addicts have never harmed them. Even in the case of a mother with her child –parents is the group of people that “complain” the most about the safety issue- she admitted that “Yes, I feel safe. Even though we had some incidents, the drug addicts never disturb the parents and the children.” This point of view is also reflected in an article of the local press: referring to Picture 18 where drug addicts share the square with children, the journalist says that
“This picture, however, does not shock the children’s parents, who let their kids play in the playground and observe them. Besides, the drug addicts seem to be trying not to disturb in order not to be disturbed, up to a point that they also accept to chat with old ladies who try to give them advice. This picture of coexistence of children and drug addicts in the square of Thessaloniki’s city centre, which has been related to the alternative history of the city, is the same for many years, if not decades.15” (unknown, 2011).
15 Translation by the author
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By reflecting the respondent’s perception about safety on what the local press tends to present about the square there seems to be a consensus of views. For many years the local press presents Navarinou Square as a place where criminality is in high levels, drug addicts and homeless people cause a lot of social problems and so on. As a result the square’s reputation for many years is tightly connected to the notion of a place where outcasts hang out, resulting not only to those people’s marginalization but also to the whole area’s fall of public life and under development. However, there is a portion of people who agree with William H. Whyte’s opinion that the “so called ‘undesirables’ are not the problem. It is the measures taken to combat them that is the problem!” (Project for Public Spaces, 2012). Some respondents, of both interviewing groups, opened a conversation regarding the issue of the drug addicts and their marginalization and seemed very conciliatory and sympathetic to them. A retired man, who uses the square regularly to relax and meet friends discusses in a sympathetic way: “What I am saying is always with love… we cannot marginalize any man, whoever he might be… because ‘Society, I am your image, and I look like you!16’ as Galatia Kazantzaki says… so, in the same way, we, the so called bourgeoisies, create the social margin.”
Picture 18: In the fountain, the border between the two “sides” of the square, children play, while under the sycamore tree are gather the “other users” of the square. Refer also to Map 3. Source: Agelioforos Newspaper: http://goo.gl/O2qTS
16 “«…Πνιγμζνου καραβιοφ ςάπιο ςανίδι όλθ θ ηωι μου του χαμοφ. Μ’ από τθν κόλαςι μου ςτο φωνάηω: -Εικόνα ςου είμαι κοινωνία και ςου μοιάηω!» Γαλάτεια Καηαντάκθ.
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Picture 19: People who are considered to be the “other users” of the square are having lunch in the east side of the square Refer also to Map 3. Source: author’s photo. Whilst drug addicts and homeless people are considered to be the main safety issue of the square, some parents have also stated that the legal and illegal traffic (some motorcycles tend to cross over the square from the pedestrian area) are an important factor of insecurity in the square, mostly because of the children. However, a negotiation of the safety problem of the square is not within the research aim of the thesis, and therefore there will not be any further discussion at this point.
4.5.4 Conclusion on the Sense of Comfort in Navarinou Square Overall, it could be argued that the perception people have about comfort in Navarinou Square is not a very positive one, and does not seem to be much affected by the presence of music or not. No matter if they find the presence of music being a pleasant addition to the environment or not, they still think that the place could have been better in terms of attractiveness and that for many of them the use of the square is a necessary evil. Gehl Architects (2004, p. 29) suggest that when the quality of a place is low, then the use of the space and the sense of pleasure that it provides is respectively low and the “activity is limited to the most necessary visits and walks”. The same seems to be valid for Navarinou Square; it is a public space that does not provide all the comfort qualities that the users would have wanted, but they still use it because it is a necessary evil. The discourse analysis has shown that those who referred to the use of the square out of necessity indicate its crucial position as the reason behind their selection. Another interesting result out of the general discourse analysis on the sense of comfort is that people in both interviewing groups tend to start talking about the positive aspects of the place and then the negative ones. However, a small differentiation can be identified, in regard of the respondents with music who seem to answer slightly in a more positive way in the beginning rather than those without music (see Appendix 3: Discourse Analysis of Respondents’ Priorities Towards the Factors and Values of Attractiveness in Navarinou Square).
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Table 2: Evaluation of the sense of Comfort of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit.
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4.6 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Sense of Community and Sociability of Navarinou Square The sense of community and the ability for socializing is one of the most important qualities of public space. As Sennett (1976) suggests, public space is the stage where people perform their roles as public entities; where people socialize and negotiate their position in the public realm. The interactions among the people, their tendencies to talk to each other, the eye contact and the willingness to use this space as a place where they meet with familiar or unknown people are the attributes that define the sense of community of place.
4.6.1 Navarinou Square as a Meeting Place From the interviews’ analysis it could be argued that people do not tend to use the square as a meeting place very much. The people who consider the square to be a meeting palace are mainly parents who arrange with other parents to meet in the playground so that their childre n can play. Young people seem also willing to use the square as a meeting place, but not so much for the paved and green area, rather than the entertainment facilities on the periphery of the square. However, some of them stated that they would also gladly use the square ansd the benches but they don’t so often. The possible reason for not using the square as a meeting place seems to be again safety reasons. As a female student who was walking her dog states: “I have friends who hang out here, and sometimes I sit with them... it’s just that I am more careful…”. Another possible reason is that Navarinou Square does not stand as a strong meeting place landmark in Thessaloniki, despite the little-boy fountain that is a landmark of the place. In a five-minutes’ walk from the square is the monument of Kamara, which is also a part of the roman Galerian Complex. Kamara, as local people usually say, is the “place that accommodates your dates in Thessaloniki since 306 AD”. As a result, Kamara is the most common place that, especially, young people and students would use. The perception of Navarinou square as a meeting place does not seem to differentiate among the respondents who were listening to the music and those who didn’t. Some people seem to feel that the square is an age- oriented place because of the specific entertainment facilities which attract mostly young people and students. As mentioned before, the cafes and restaurants of Navarinou are considered to be one of the “hearts” of the student social life of Thessaloniki. Respondent 1B, a woman at her middle ages says: “well... the square is not for people of my age because it is mostly for students.”, while a young girl drinking her coffee says that: “well... people on their sixties, fifties will not sit in the specific square”. After looking around and at the playground for a few seconds she continues “however, I do see people of this age... no matter what, it still has to do with the hour of the day
I think...”. Those women quotations seem to reflect an Picture 20: Old man sitting on a bench and feeding age orientation in the square according to the place the pigeons of the square. Source: author’s photo
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and time. They seem to have a perception that the entertainment facilities refer only to young people, while the rest of the square and the playground is a place for all the ages. This perception seems to be verified also by a young woman’s quotation: “I think that generally, all people feel welcome in a sort of way, and that’s why this is the place where many fellowships of any age meet. We have never faced a problem with that... it’s ok.” The discourse analysis did not reveal any differentiation among the respondent’s perceptions towards the sense of the square being age oriented. As stated above, even if young people do not use the paved part of the square as a meeting point, parents with children seem to do so. As a result, it could be argued that the playground is a landmark for the square in the social cycle of the young parents. Playground is a much appreciated facility that the square offers, since there is no other similar infrastructure in the ci ty centre. All other squares and open spaces downtown either do not have playground equipment, or are not protected from heavy flows of vehicles. From a different point of view, as it has been aforementioned, the perception of Navarinou Square as a meeting place should not only be discussed in physical terms, where people physically meet each other, but also as Massey and Rose (2003) suggest, as a place where “numerous trajectories of all kinds (are) brought together in physical proximity” (p. 4). However, it seems that the marginalization of people and a few internal conflicts (such as the sense of age oriented space) do not allow the square to function as a multicultural stage where all people can express their public roles (Sennett, 1976).
4.6.2 Feeling Welcome in Navarinou Square As for the sense of being welcome to the square, the majority responded in a positive way. They said that there is no reason that they would feel that something or someone repels them from being in the square. However, the respondents who seemed to be concerned about the issue of the drug addicts in terms of safety argued here that the “other users” might be reason for them to not feel welcome in the square; “(the only thing that could repel me from coming to the square) is the people... only the people... nothing else.”, says a young male student who has insisted a lot on the matter of the “other people”. It seems interesting, that there is no differentiation among the respondents of answering with music and without music when it comes to evaluating the sense of being welcome in the square.
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4.6.3 Conclusions on the Sense of Community and Sociability in Navarinou Square Regarding the sense and perception of socializing in the square, some respondents through their statements have noticed how important this factor is for the quality of this public space. Respondent 10A, a young father says: “What I like in the square is...that many people gather together” while respondent 2A, a young mother signifies the importance of socializing: “(...) I have made friends...with other moms... we have made friendships, my child has made friends, and as result my day goes on more pleasantly”. Some respondents have evaluated the importance of this function of the Psychogeographical Picture 8: Company of mothers with children who have come to meet each other in square as a space of social activity and interaction the public realm and allow their children to play. and pictured it in their psychogeographical practice Source: author’s photo (photo taken by respondent 9A) (see Psychogeographical Picture 8). With, or without music, people seem to appreciate the importance of a public space in their everyday lives and the significance of socializing in the public realm. Another aspect of the sense of sociability of the square is that even the fact that peopl e get to see other people in the public realm has its own importance, especially in the Greek culture. For people of all ages the chance to sit somewhere and just watch and observe –and sometimes gossip – the people who are crossing by is a social activity of its own, which has been recognised in the discourse analysis. However, in this case too, there has been no differentiation among the two interviewing sets.
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Table 3: Evaluation of the Sense of Community and Sociability of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit.
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4.7 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Accessibility of Navarinou Square The accessibility of a square is the third important attribute related to the quality of a public space. Issues such as linkages, connections, how walkable the place is and its proximity with other places of interest are some of the values evaluated while discussing about accessibility (Project for Public Spaces, 2012).
4.7.1 Accessibility and Openness of Navarinou Square Overall, the respondents seem to be pleased with the square’s accessibility. The majority of them believe that it is a public space that can be approached very easily and it is open to anyone who would like to come and use the square. However, there is a percentage of the people who believe that in terms of accessibility from disadvantaged people, the design and infrastructures provided might not be the most suitable ones. Other respondents referred also to the fact that the tables and chairs of the entertainment facilities cover the whole peripheral pavement of the square, making the access of the square more difficult. Another suspending factor for not being able to access the square is that of the “other people” who according to some respondents create a sense of insecurity and fear that does not allow them to approach and use the square as much as they would have wanted to. The discourse analysis did not reveal any critical differences among the respondents of the two groups; with music and without music. This result seems to come to contradiction with the theoretical approaches. Further discussion and reflection on this incompatibility will be presented in chapter 5.
4.7.2 The Role of Navarinou Square in the Urban Structure of Thessaloniki What seems to be very interesting is the perception people have about the square’s role in the city centre of Thessaloniki. The opinions are quite various, but the majority, of both sets of interviews, agrees to one thing: that the city lacks in public spaces and the importance of Navarinou Square in those terms is non-negotiable. “The square as a space is an oasis in the city centre, that’s why I chose to live here!” says respondent 8B, a middle-aged woman who resides in one of the square’s buildings. “(...) it is a very dear Picture 21: March 2012 – As soon as the first spring place for the people. It has lots of people; as soon as sun came out in Thessaloniki, the square filled with people of all ages who went to the space to enjoy the the sun comes out ‘pop!’ everyone comes here in the weather. Source: author’s square. The square fills immediately. (see Picture 21) The square...is the centre, it is... where everyone gathers. (...) Navarinou Square is a trademark!” mentions enthusiastically a young mother with her child. As William H. Whyte puts it, “it is not just the number of people using them (the small spaces), but the larger number who pass by and enjoy them vicariously, or even the larger number who feel better about the city centre for knowledge of them. For a city, such places are priceless, whatever the cost.” (Project for Public Spaces, 2012). It seems, that even the knowledge of the existence of small open spaces in the “chaos” of the city centre is a confrontation and a relief for city people. “I think it is very important to have such spaces in the city centre; they give life!” says a female student who was passing by the square.
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However, it should be mentioned that –almost- no one at this point referred to the historical importance of the square. The fact that this place apart from being a site of archaeological interest is also one of the oldest public spaces in Thessaloniki that remains to date is expected to be highlighted in people’s perceived space. It seems that there is a need not only for a better design of the square in order to conceptually blend better with the historical site, but also a rise of the awareness of what this open space used to be. Cultural and musical events have the ability to push to this direction. This aspect will be discussed on the next chapter, Chapter 5: Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Recommendations. The discourse analysis towards people’s perception of the role of Navarinou Square in Thessaloniki’s structure revealed that there are five main reasons of the importance of the space: its public nature, its position, its uses, its crucial role for socializing and its cultural and historical value. Despite the attempt to make an in-depth analysis of the discourses reflecting the square’s role and highlight any differences among the two interview sets, this was not the case. The only slight difference is that – unexpectedly- the value of the square as a cultural and historical place is only reflected in respondents’ quotations without music, while it was assumed that people in the presence of a cultural event would have been more prompted to discuss about this role of the square.
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4.7.3 Conclusions on the Sense of Accessibility of Navarinou Square Overall, the perception that people have on the accessibility, openness and importance of the square is positive. However, it seems that people under the presence of the music performance evaluate the accessibility and openness of the space slightly more negatively than those without the music. Nevertheless, since this analysis is purely qualitative, it is not possible to proceed to a conclusion that is based on poor quantitative data.
Table 4: Evaluation of people’s perception of Accessibility of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit.
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4.8 The Effect of the Music Performance in the Perception that People have about the Use of and Activity in Navarinou Square The fourth and last key qualities of public space are the uses and activities hosted in the square. As Project for Public Spaces (2012) states “Activities are the basic building blocks of a place. Having something to do gives people a reason to come to a place – and return. When there is nothing to do, a space will be empty and that generally means that something is wrong”.
4.8.1 Navarinou Square as an Active Public Space The respondents were asked to evaluate the extent to which they consider the square to be an active public space. In both sets of interviews people held a mediocre position (see Table 6), a fact that is of high interest; it was expected that people would consider the space more active in the presence of music. The majority of them stated that the square has some activity, but it could have been better, and it used to be better. Some respondents said that before the Greek recession there used to be much more people in the square, but due to financial limitations people prefer to stay at home. A young mother with her child states that “Yes, there is life. However, much less than before, but it has life. (…) Back in the days it used to have more people, it used to concentrate more people. Now there is not so much. Nowadays people also have difficulties (financial), so it is reasonable that they don’t go out as much as they used to do”. The Greek recession seems to be an extraneous factor which was not reflected in the theoretical framework, but seems to have a great effect on people’s perceptions on public space and the degree that music performance affects them. A further discussion on the issue is presented in chapter 5.
4.8.2 The Activities of Navarinou Square At a second level, the interviewees were asked to discuss their opinion about the most dominant activities of the square. The playground (Psychogeographical Picture 9) and entertainment facilities seem to be the spaces which host the most dominant facilities, at least on people’s perceptions. Respondent 2B, a woman at the end of her 20s, says between laughter that “the cafeterias (are the most dominant activity)! There’s nothing else!”. Even for an older woman, who used to be resident of the city centre, entertainment is the one and only use of the space: “it is for students! To drink coffee!”. Psychogeographical Picture 9: The playground as portrayed by respondent 2A, a young mother and The activities of relaxation and meeting friends and photographer. Source: author’s (taken by respondent family seem to be also high in people’s perceptions. 2A) As far as people’s perception about the most common use of the square are concerned, it seems that people who were interviewed in the presence of music tend to refer more on the cultural activity of the square, and with a more critical way, than the ones without the music (see Table 6). What is more, people under the music stimulation seemed to express their opinion about this activity, even without being asked. It seems that the fact that there was a music event present at the same time with the interviews prompted them to talk about this topic. Thus, it could be argued that a spatial practice, which was developed from a representation of space (conceived space of the
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researcher), developed a lived space, the one that the respondent experienced and was cognitively urged to talk about culture. Another interesting observation regarding people’s activities perception, is that people without the presence of music tend to refer to the use of the playground as the first and foremost activity of the square, while the ones with music, most of them, stated first the use of the entertainment facilities as the primary one (see Psychogeographical Picture 10 and Table 5). This result might also be the outcome of a cognitive process deriving from external stimulations. For instance, the fact that there is no music in the soundscape of the square, and the children’s laughter are the dominant sound, Psychogeographical Picture 10: A male student who probably provokes people’s perceptions towards a was enjoying his coffee in the terrace, in the presence of music, took this picture of the space dominated by children. On the other hand, environment of the entertainment facility. Source: when music is performing the cognitive author’s (taken by respondent 4B) environment of the square is much more related to entertainment than to children; one would hardly refer as the dominant use of the square the cultural activities, but one can make a connection with the most related one, which is entertainment. However, it should be noticed, that this explanation is just an assumption since no theoretical approaches have been found in order to support this argument.
Overall, even both groups of interviewees seem to believe that “the square is an active place, but it could have been better”, the interviewees under the music stimulation have stated a much bigger number and greater variety of activities hosted in the square (Table 5). This result might also be related to the aforementioned explanation; that the stimulations received during a music performance are more and of richer meaning and therefore are translated into a much bigger amount and variety of uses of the square.
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No activity 1 activity 2 activity 3 activity 4 activity 5
1A playground
2A playground culture meeting place relaxation
entertainment 3A culture meeting place facilities walk 4A playground relaxation walk
5A playground entertainment facilties
6A playground culture
entertainment 7A relaxation facilities entertainment 8A culture facilities 9A playground
without musicwithout 10A drug addicts/homeless
entertainment 11A facilities 12A walk playground relaxation culture
13A playground
14A playground
entertainment 15A facilities
entertainment 1B walk facilities 2B entertainment playground facilities entertainment 3B walk relaxation meeting place facilities entertainment 4B culture facilities walk relaxation meeting place entertainment 5B culture facilities walk relaxation meeting place 6B playground meeting place relaxation culture
7B culture
8B walk meeting place culture
entertainment 9B drug addicts/homeless
facilities with music 10B relaxation meeting place
entertainment 11B playground facilities entertainment 12B relaxation meeting place culture facilities entertainment 13B playground facilities entertainment 14B playground culture facilities entertainment 15B playground facilities 16B drug addicts/homeless
Table 5: Respondent’s unconscious priorities about the main uses and activities of Navarinou square. Source: author’s data and edit
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4.8.3 Willingness of Residency in Navarinou Square The interviewees have also been asked if they would like to live in one of the houses of the square, as their response might indicate the intimate feelings, perceptions and experiences that an individual might have for a place. The majority responded in a negative way, not so much because they don’t like the square, but mainly due to their repulsion for the down-town city life. Respondent 2A, a young mother and photographer mentions that “No (I wouldn’t want to live in the square). Not because I don’t like the area… it would have been very convenient for me and my daughter. It’s just that I think it’s best to live a little bit outside the city centre”. A minority referred to the safety reasons for not Picture 22: The only historical building left in the wanting to reside in the area. However, people who square, which seems to attract people’s interest would like to have their residence on the square when discussing the topic of residency. Source: stated reasons related to the openness of the square author’s and the green space. Some of them also pointed out their desire to live in the only historical bui lding left on the square (Picture 22). The two sets of interviews do not seem to bare any significant difference.
4.8.4 Conclusions on the Uses and Activities of Navarinou Square Overall, it could be argued that Navarinou Square is an active public space where people have the opportunity to participate in these activities. There seem to be further potentials for the square to become a core of public life and expression in the city centre of Thessaloniki. As it has been mentioned before, in the evaluation of Attractiveness, the square is not being fully used, in terms of surface; the paved area in the centre of the space is not sufficiently used. Keeping in mind also the fact that the space is used by all genders and ages, it could be argued that the realm has a – mere - inclusive character. What is more, the space is used and has activities all day long, even if it is from different social groups and marginalized people. Project for Public Spaces (2012) suggests that a space in order to be successful should be “used by both singles and people in groups (...) because it means that there are places for people to sit with friends, there is more socializing, and it is more fun”. This component seems to be confirmed according to people’s perceptions as well as to some personal observations 17 (see Picture 23 and Picture 24).
17 However, it should be noticed, that no proper observation method has been followed for this research design.
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Picture 23 and Picture 24: Single and group users of the square. Source: author’s photos.
Table 6: Evaluation of people’s perception of the Use of Navarinou Square according to the respondents’ opinion, with music and without music being present. Red stands for negative, orange for neutral and green for positive opinion/perception. Source: author’s data and edit.
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4.9 People’s Perceptions on the Music Performance Until now, all the results presented before do not seem to indicate any significant difference among people’s perception about the quality of public space with or without music. So, in order to be more specific with the interviewees and clarify the topic of the research to them it was decided that a third part of the interview should be included that would contain themes related tightly to music18. It is very interesting to mention that as soon as the respondents understood that the music played a role in this research and interview they all became very excited and willing to talk about this topic (for both sets of interviews). As a result, the conversations that were conducted within this context have a lot of interest.
4.9.1 Music in Public Space and Pleasure To begin with, people’s excitement and positive attitude towards the topic is obvious in Table 8, where the majority of people, with or without the presence of music, stated that they enjoy music in public space (code: 5E: Music & Pleasure). Respondent 5B, a young female student in the presence of music, stated that “I really like (street musicians), because time goes on pleasantly and it is nice to listen to them while you’re walking”. Not only do people’s statements reflect the pleasure that music provokes to them, but also their actions. There was an incident of a young mother dancing with her baby girl in her arms all over the square to a waltz song that the musicians were playing (see Picture 25 (Doumpa, 2012). It was an indication of how much music may affect the audience’s mood. Especially in the case of the gipsy-swing music that was performed, a music-cognition related aspect suggests that intensive rhythms of music (such the one of gipsy-swing) attract more attention than low- tempo ones. “We are drawn into the event in order to experience its rhythm” (Duffy, pp. 3, 7-8). Duffy also suggests that the music genre and the “framing of the performance” prompt the listener to engage oneself to a specific related identity and position, which could Picture 25: A young mother dancing with her baby even be related to another time and place (pp. 3, 7-8). girl to the sounds of a waltz song. Source: author’s Gipsy-swing music has that retro feeling and nostalgic emotion that apparently is transported to the public audience and produces respective cognitive responses. It is a genre that might bring back memories to elders, or even make cognitive connections with stories heard, movies watched, books read etc by younger people. Discourse analysis on the way people refer to the pleasure of music in public space seems to also reflect the depth of the cognitive processes. When people were asked to evaluate this potential attribute of music, they tend to use different types of expressions according to their exposure to music or not. The respondents who were listening to the music tend to describe their pleasant perception of music with expressions and idioms that are more related to the urban environment,
18 For the first and second part of the interview people were unaware of the importance of the music for the research and the interviews, in order to capture the sub-conscious reactions and perceptions.
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the physical presence of the musicians in the square and the produced pleasant atmosphere. “Music is as attractive as the flowers!”, states in excitement and relates music to environment a female student who visits the square on a regular base. Another young girl explains: “I mean, you watch the music, you watch the people sitting and observing… it is nice!”. It is very interesting the fact that this respondent refers to the musicians as a visual stimulation. This is related with what Wood et al. (2007, p. 869) discuss about the materialistic aspect of music performance, which also includes the physical presence of the musicians and the perceptions that they construct. The materialistic aspect of music and its perception as an object is also very clearly reflected in the response of a middle- aged woman: “(…) music relaxes. You feel that something exists”. What is more, the same respondent comments that “(street musicians) make a better atmosphere, make a better mood!”, and thus creates a chain relationship between music, urban atmosphere (perception) and experience. On the other hand, people without the stimulation of music used expressions that are more related to their potential personal experience. “Music makes me happier”, “Music transforms my mood”, “Music excites me!” are some of the expressions that the respondents without music used in order to state their sense of pleasure towards music in public space. These quotations seem to be more related to the intimate feelings and perceptions that music provokes. Despite this result’s more linguistic and cognitive related nature, it seems to reflect a very interesting aspect, which links music performance with the perception and sense of the urban environment both in its physical, social and experiential form. This position is reflected in chapter 5. What is more, it was noticed that while conducting the interview set without music, few of those who were interviewed referred on their own to the performance which was conducted one week ago as a very pleasant experience, though they did not know that it was an event scheduled for the purposes of this research. A young, female private employee recalls: “few days ago I came up with a band that were playing the violin... it was very nice, because we were in the park on the one hand, but on the other we were also listening to music... and yes, and the children were dancing…”. Another male respondent reflects his own experience: “Yes, (music in public space) is something very pleasant, and sometimes in the square there are people who either sing opera songs, or play accordion and generally I believe that these events give a different touch…”. This respondent, even though he does not seem to have been present in the events of this research, has kept a vivid representation of his intimate experience and it seems that he has connected pleasant feelings of being in the square with music performance in the public. As a result, the overall experience remained in his memory. These statements describe not only the representations that music produces, but also the power that music has to create memories and feelings, and link spatial values with experiential ones. This result will be further discussed and viewed through Lefebvre’s (1991) and Tuan’s (1977) scope in chapter 5.
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4.9.2 Perceptions towards the Busking Phenomenon A significant difference between the respondents of the two sets was their perception towards street musicians –the buskers19. While the interviewees of the set with the music claimed that they usually stop and listen to street musicians and that they give money, the people of the other group did not answer as positively as the first one. One reason for this differentiation could be that the group with the music had a vision, a representation of how a similar experience could be and managed to put themselves into the situation. On the other hand, those who didn’t have any similar activity to stimulate them and engage with it, were not much willing to stop and listen to the – imaginative- band, or give them money. “Hm, I don’t always stop (to listen to street musicians), because I might… I might be walking in order to get somewhere at this time, and I just continue listening to them while walking. (…) sometimes I do give money (…) when I like the music that they’re performing and it’s a little bit original, I will stop to give money”, discusses respondent 4A, a 30-year old woman who didn’t have the stimulation of music at the time of the interview. This aspect of street music, the financial one, was considered to be an important factor towards people’s reactions to music. Especially in Greece, now that the money for the daily expenses is reduced to the minimum, people tend to feel uncomfortable when asked to give money to a performer. However, they do enjoy the presence of a creative action, but they try to avoid physical contact with the artists to escape themselves of the difficult position of observing and not being able to donate. These observations have been conducted on a preliminary stage of the thesis, and since they did not correspond to a formal methodological form, they are not used as data, rather than just plain indications and assumptions.
4.9.3 Music in Public Space and Sense of Safety A similar situation is repeated for the sense of safety and the presence of a music performance. People who were experiencing the music event in space and time could be more certain about whether a music event helps them to feel safer in the square; and overall it could be argued that it doesn’t. On the contrary, the other group of interviewees was not definitely sure about their sense of safety during a music event, and that’s why their answers are more under negotiation. A young male student from a city outside Thessaloniki notices: “well… yes (I would feel safer in the presence of music performance)… I guess, that when people are gathered, it has positive aspects as well as negative; I mean that you don’t know what kind of people is gathering… it depends on the concerts… I don’t think I can tell you something more specific… I think that because of the concentrated people, I would feel more safe, but… without knowing the music genre and what kind of people will gather here, I cannot tell for sure…”. This student’s perspective reflects clearly the uncertainty of the respondents without the presence of music, towards the effect of music on the potential sense of safety. This result of the conscious discussion of safety in the presence of music is consistent with the result of the discourse analysis of people’s unconscious sense of safety in the presence of music. Therefore, it could be argued that when there seems to be a serious problem of safety in an area, the musical cognition does not have any effect of the perception of space. This aspect is further discussed in the conclusions’ chapter (chapter 5)
19 “Busker” is a term usually referred to street musicians who engage themselves in a relationship of charity with the audience rather than that of producer-consumer. It refers to street musicians who ask of the audience’s good will to pay them the amount of money that they think is suitable.
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4.9.4 Quality Matters It was also very interesting to watch how children respond to the sound and view of a music performance compared to the adults. “Children always stop to listen. It’s us the grown-ups that we never listen to our children”, states respondent 4B, a father with alternative style and opinions, when asked about whether he stops to listen to street musicians –in general- or not. This quote, relates also to one of the results of the “experiment” that the Washington Post conducted in a metro station with Picture 26: “Children always stop to listen”. A little girl almost enchanted by the music has been the world-famous violinist; the children always pay listening to the musicians for more than 15 minutes. attention to street musicians and in this case it was Source: author’s only one or two children who turned their heads to look at the violinist. The aforementioned “experiment” was aiming to evaluate the aesthetic crisis of people towards music in a different context than the one of the music hall. A factor that was not at first taken into consideration but was almost catholically stated by the respondents is that of the qualitative characteristics of the musical performance. Almost all respondents stated that the extent to which the music in public will capture their attention and appreciation depends on the quality of the musicians performing, the music genre and the originality of the music. “If the musicians are good and they sing nicely, and they play properly they change my mood... we might as well hang out around them with a glass of alcohol etc., but if they are out of tone and their music is bad, then I will leave!” states respondent 4B, a 23 year old man interviewed with music, who seemed very excited about the music-related discussion. “Yes, I give money to street musicians, as long as they have something interesting to present”, says another female respondent who noticed the music from the beginning of the interview. Even the physical features and the personality of the musicians seem to count. A young woman walking her dog reflects on the occasion: “(...) if I get attracted by their music and their behaviour, if they smile to the person, if they are sociable, then yes, I would give money. Because I have seen many musicians, who just stand like that, you approach to listen and they just look at you, as if they’re saying ‘why are you listening to me’? And that’s when you go nuts!”. In the specific case of performance, it is of interest to mention that even though the band did not have any case or box in front of them, so that people would give them money, there were some people who came closer to give money. There was a middle-aged lady, who as she was passing through the square she noticed the band, approached them and asked them if they take money (see Picture 27). Despite the musicians’ denial, she insisted on giving five Euros “to drink a coffee!” and thus generously awarding the musicians’ effort and quality (Doumpa, 2012). It seems that Prato’s (1984, p. 159) opinion that the musical quality and virtuosity for outdoors musical events is very important in terms of evaluating an aesthetic experience is valid in this occasion.
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Picture 27: “May I at least buy you a coffee?” this woman suggests to the musicians when they said that they do not collect money, but they perform for pleasure. Source: author’s
4.9.5 Music and Attractiveness of Space All respondents of both sets agreed that the presence of musicians in the square makes the place look more attractive, and thus verifying – at this stage – the assumption that music in public space changes for better the perception that people have on the attractiveness of space. “(the music performance makes the square) much more attractive, more humane, more cultural; it generally upgrades the square as well as the living conditions of the residents and visitors”, states respondent 8B, a female lawyer who resides on the square, and at this morning visited the square because she got attracted by the music that she was listening from the window. However, it should be noted here, that while their conscious response reflects positively towards this power of music, their unconscious evaluations of the square’s attractiveness in the presence of music do not seem to correspond.
4.9.6 Music and Revitalization of Public Space When it comes to their attitude towards any potential music events in the square, the majority responded that they would like to attend those events and participate. They also agreed that music events in the square on a regular basis would prompt them to come more often to the square. A 45- year old father reflects on the effect that music in Navarinou Square would have had for his children: “It would have been very nice if it was possible for musicians or other performers to come here from time to time, without being chased by the police. It is certainly better for the children, because they get more stimulation, and they learn more… it is good for the children”. Accordingly, from her own perspective, a young student relates public performances with the identity of the square as a student’s hot spot: “ I believe that if something like this was to be organized here, in the square, it would have been very nice because… Thessaloniki is a student city, and music is something for the young people, thus I would really like it! (…) I would come more often in the square, because I believe that it would have been very nice! Especially in summer, it is much nicer to sit in the square where it is cool, underneath a tree, rather than going to a closed bar or club.”. it seems that every
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type of user of the square identifies oneself and one’s needs with a musical event in the square. Therefore, it could be argued that music performance in the public realm can lead to public space revitalization and regeneration. This proposal is reflected and presented in the following chapter (chapter 5).
4.9.7 Conclusions on People’s Perceptions on the Music Performance William H. Whyte (1979) has stated that one of the most important key qualities of a good public space is triangulation: the provided stimulations and attractions to the users of the space, which allows them to engage to deeper level with the space and have a more pleasant and memorable experience. Music in public space is an expression of triangulation and it seems that the presence of something new and intense –like music- that cannot be unnoticed in the public realm disrupts the intense and mechanical urban rhythms that are related to the daily routine and consumption and brings spontaneity and excitement to the public life (McClish, 2010, p. 853). According to Table 7, the –slight- majority of the respondents of the interviewing set with music noticed the presence of the musicians on their own; they either referred to them or they took a picture of them during the psychogeographical practice. What is more, it was expected that more people would take pictures of the music band performing; a hypothesis that was not verified. Another interesting clue is that even if the results that came up from the first part of the interview (the unconscious negotiation of the attributes) do not verify the major hypothesis that music affects people’s perception about their urban public environment, the respondents seem to have noticed the music one way or another. In Table 7, except for the respondents who did not refer to the music at all (red colour) or clearly mentioned the musicians (green colour) there are also those who referred to the music indirectly (orange colour with star). For instance, respondent 5B, a female student who was drinking her coffee in one of the square’s terraces, referred on her own but in an indirect way to the music activity when asked about the uses of the square: “there should be more activities, a little bit of music”. It seems that even though she didn’t mention at all the musicians performing in the square, she probably got stimulated by their performance and she produced this conception of space. Accordingly, respondent 7B, who is a 38-years old teacher, in the discourse of activities and uses of the square states: “There are a lot of concerts during the summer (…)”. Though she does not refer to present musicians, she seems to have gotten the idea for this statement from the music stimulations. Therefore, it could be argued that music performance, most of the times, has a direct or indirect effect on people’s cognition and therefore perceptions and experiences.
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Table 7: Respondent’s choice of themes to photograph, and whether they paid attention to the music by themselves. Source: author’s data and edit.
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Table 8: Respondents’ perceptions on the attributes related to Music in the public space. Source: author’s data and edit.
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5. Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Recommendations The process of analysis has revealed very interesting and unexpected results concerning the effect of music performance on people’s perception regarding the quality of Navarinou Square. In this chapter, the research process will be completed, as the empirical outcomes will be reflected and discussed in the critical view of the theoretical approaches and the respective arguments that have been discussed in chapter 2: Theoretical Framework. The chapter consists of three subchapters. The first subchapter sums up the results of the empirical research, reflects on the main arguments that were stated during the theoretical and empirical research and concludes with the answers to the research questions as well as the conclusion for the research aim. The second one is a discussion of the topic within the theoretical aspects of Henri Lefebvre’s production of space (1991) and Yi-Fu Tuan’s construction of experience (1977). The last part of this chapter suggests policy recommendations for the revitalization and regeneration of public space through music performance, in respect of the conclusions of this research.
5.1 Conclusions This present research is aiming at revealing the extent to which music in public space changes the perception that people have about the quality of a public space. The whole research, both in a theoretical as well as in empirical level has been structured upon four research sub-questions. These questions are based on four attributes of public space which function as the pylons on which the whole research has been built. Throughout research on relevant theoretical approaches as well as empirical study of a case it is now possible to give answers to those questions and reflect on their aspects.
5.1.1 R.Q.1: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of comfort of a public space? Project for Public Spaces (2012), in accordance to William H. Whyte’s (1988) guidelines, identifies comfort as one of the most important attributes of a public space. Sense of comfort is produced through a series of factors, which might vary from research to research. In this thesis, there has been an investigation and evaluation of three factors: attractiveness, pleasure and safety, which reflect both physical and socio-psychological aspects of the urban realm. These factors have been researched on their capacity to get affected by the presence of music in the public realm. It is suggested that music has the ability to produce emotions and reactions which influence in a corresponding manner people’s perception of attractiveness and therefore the sense of comfort ( (Durao, 2009); (Hall T., Smith C., 2004); (Guetzkow, 2002); (Minton, 2009)). However, in the empirical results this does not seem to be the case. The bad maintenance conditions and the lack of many basic infrastructures in Navarinou Square, seem to create a very strong, negative perception of the – minimal – attractiveness of the square, that does not seem to be easy to re-negotiate. Therefore, it could be argued that problems of great seriousness, such as cleanliness or even safety, and their respective perceptions and experiences cannot be reversed from the presence of a musical performance in the realm. On the other hand, the fact that all respondents, consciously, reflected positively towards the attractiveness of the square because of a music performance causes questions about the depth of peoples’ negative perceptions towards attractiveness. It seems that even though they would like to see the public space from a more positive perspective, this is not feasible due to their deeply rooted perceptions of space. This contradiction carries a lot of interest. However it is not possible to reflect more on it due to the researcher’s lack in knowledge of cognitive mechanisms and the respective theoretical approaches.
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The empirical research revealed a gap in the model proposed by Project for Public Spaces (2012). The discourse analysis showed that another factor which is related to the sense of attractiveness and comfort is that of the “people”. Moreover, music seems to have an effect on the perception of this factor, by elevating it to the subconscious priority list of people of the important attributes of a public space. Pleasure, is a quality of space, which includes both physical features of space as well as experiential ones. It has been argued that music has the power to revitalize memories emotions and perceptions and therefore is tightly linked with the sense of pleasure ( (Sancar, 2003); (Hargreaves D.J., North A.C., 1999); (Krumhansl, 2002)). Indeed, it seems that music plays a significant role on people’s perceptions of the pleasure derived from being in the public space. According to the music genre and quality representations of time and place are transported to the listener and seem to produce respective perceptions and experiences. However, the respondents, of either group, who do not find pleasure in the square, negotiate their discomfort in terms of safety and the marginalized pe ople. Therefore, it could be argued that people who hold a strong negative perception towards a problem of a public space and do not find pleasure in a public space do not seem to get affected by the music performance. However, people who hold a mediocre of positive perception towards the physical and social conditions of a public realm are open to change their perception of pleasure in the event of a music performance. What is more, discourse analysis has added an extra argument in the theoretical approach of music in public space. It seems that people who produce representations of the public space through a musical cognitive process tend to negotiate their experiences through external factors such as the urban environment, the physical and materialistic presence of the musicians as well as the produced pleasant atmosphere. The reason behind this aspect might be the engagement that the listener develops with his urban environment which not only includes materialistic objects but also cognitive ones, such as the atmosphere of a place. Guetzkow (2002) suggests that a music event apart from the pleasure that it evokes, it also causes a relief of stress. This assumption, even it responds to more cognitive and psychological research fields, seems to be verified. The people who got interviewed in the presence of music seemed to be far more relaxed than those without music. This conclusion is reflected on people’s responses towards their perceptions of the marginalized people, where most of the respondents with music referred with slung expressions and felt freer to express their rather negative opinions. What is more, the respondents seemed to be more willing to explain themselves and describe their feelings and thoughts during the interviews with music in comparison with those who did not get affected by music. Therefore, it could be argued that music performance and the following cognitive process allows people to express themselves more openly and relaxed. Another argument of great importance is that music has the ability to function as a connecting link between spatial experiences and perceptual experiences, such as memories and feelings. The empirical research has revealed that people tend to connect spatial and temporal points with intimate feelings and thoughts through a creative event such as a music performance. This argument is related to the engagement that music produces with space and time through its symbolisms ( (Cohen, 1995, p. 444); (Sancar, 2003, p. 273); (Duffy, pp. 3, 7-8)) as well as the identity that music provides to a space and time (Wagemans, 2011).
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Comfort in public realm is also highly related to the sense of safety of the space. Approaches towards the effect of music in the sense of safety imply that the enhancement of the sense of belonging and familiarity as well as the liveability and physical presence in the public space caused by the music tend to change the perception of safety for better ( (Wagemans, 2011); (Massey D., Rose G., 2003); (Low S.M., Taplin D., Scheld S., 2005); (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996). Though this argument seems to be solid and realistic, in the present empirical research does not get confirmed. Instead, as in the case of attractiveness and pleasure , people who are strongly determined against the perceptions of insecurity that a space holds, do not seem to get affected by the music performance.
5.1.2 R.Q.2: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the sense of community and sociability of a public space? The second attribute that is evaluated through the research is people’s perception of the sense of community and sociability. It has been argued, that there are three indicating factors. The extent to which public space is perceived as a meeting place, how people perceive and use the playground as a means of socializing and last, to what extent people feel welcome in the square. The theoretical research has revealed that music in public space functions as a catalyst for social relations, networks and interaction ( (Whyte, 1988); (Tuan, 1977, p. 162); (Sancar, 2003, p. 272); (Hall T., Smith C., 2004); (Cohen, 1995); (Wood N., Duffy M., Smith S., 2007)). The function of music performance in public space as a “triangulation” (Whyte, 1988) is merely verified. In the empirical research there was no indication from the responses that music enhances social relations, networks and interaction. However, some informal observations of Navarinou Square during the events seem to reveal such social production through the music performance. Music is also supposed to have a positive effect in perceptions related to diversity, social tolerance and free expression (Guetzkow, 2002). However, this assumption seems to fall in the present research. As it has been aforementioned, people who processed their perceptions towards the marginalized people through a musical cognition seemed to be less tolerant, according to their discourses. The fact that music allowed them to feel more relaxed and comfortable, and express themselves more openly and thus in a more negative way than the other respondents who used more “politically correct” characterisations indicates that music does not seem to change people’s perceptions towards inclusivity and social tolerance. It could also be argued, that public music performance enhances the sense of space as a meeting place, not only of people in their physical form, but also of social and cultural trajectories (Massey D., Rose G., 2003). As far as the physical form of the public space as a meeting place is concerned, the discourse analysis of the empirical research revealed that music does not affect at all the respective perception. Accordingly, the argument that music enhances the perception of public space as a place where social and cultural trajectories meet, though it sounds very promising, does not seem to be verified in the case study either. So, as in the case of the perceptions of social inclusivity and tolerance, music does not seem to have any effect at all. Another quality of music is that of the promotion of creativity and play in the public realm. Children seem to be the ones who get more stimulated by the sounds and rhythms and thus get more easily related with the public realm. Throughout this process, children have the chance to develop social skills as well as emotional intelligence (Cabe Space, 2011). It could be argued that this assumption is verified through the empirical research. Even though the children in Navarinou Square were not
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interviewed, their physical presence, their actions and sometimes their words gave lots of clues about the way music transforms a public space into a creative and playful space.
5.1.3 R.Q.3: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the accessibility of a public space? The quality of accessibility and openness of a public space, as well as the role of this space in the urban structure are considered the main factors which indicate the overall perception of accessibility of a place. This attribute, as well as that of comfort, include physical as well as social and cultural aspects. In terms of physical accessibility of the public space it is expected that as in the case of the design and sense of safety of a space, music has a positive reflect on it. However, this assumption has fallen for both design and safety as well as for accessibility. Again, the reason behind this alternation of the expected outcome is that when perceptions of problems of the public realm are strong and solid it is very difficult to reverse them with a creative activity such as the music performance. People somehow tend to prioritize their negative perceptions against the positive ones and use them as a block towards any stimulation that could change their perceptions for better. The same conclusion derives from people’s perceptions towards the openness of the public realm. Even from a more social aspect, music in public space does enhance the openness of a public space, as it is was expected to do according to Low et al. (2005) and Tornaghi (2007). As it has been mentioned before, perceptions related to tolerance, multiculturalism and inclusivity do not seem to get affected by the music performance. As for the role of the space in the urban structure, music is considered to change the perception that people have about his space in a positive way. However, the empirical results do not reflect on this argument. It seems that, in contrast to what many policy makers and planners suppose, creative performing practices in the public realm do not change the perception people have about the role of the square. On the other hand, it might be the case that Navarinou Square already has a positive and established role and perception in the urban structure of Thessaloniki, and therefore a single music event did not have any further positive effect on the square’s perception.
5.1.4 R.Q.4: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the use of a public space? The activities hosted in a public space as well as the perceptions that people have about the use of a space seem to be important for the quality of a space. The presence of a music performance in a public space is argued to enhance the overall impression and perception of the vitality of a space, as a factor which produces material space as well as social participation ( (Minton, 2009); (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996); (McClish, 2010)). Despite the logical causality of this argument, the results of the empirical research do not verify it. Even in times when the square was full of children the respondents perceived the space as one of low or limited activity. Conclusively, it seems that even if music produces material space it seems very difficult to produce a respective perception of vitality of space. It might be the case that one and only event does not change the perception that the everyday users of the square have about its activity. In the theoretical framework, it was also assumed that since music has the ability to enhance social interaction and the perception of meeting place, then a music performance changes people’s
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perception of the uses towards more community- and social-related uses. This assumption is merely not verified by the empirical research. On the one hand, it has been discussed, that music did not seem to have any effect on people’s perception towards social interaction and inclusivity. On the other hand, discourse analysis of people’s statements about the uses of the space reflect a tendency to negotiate more on the cultural activities of the square in the presence of music, compared to those without it. It could be argued, that the musical stimulation which empowered the respective cognitive process resulted in the engagement of the respondent with related topics.
5.1.5 Main Research Question: To what extent does music in public space change the perception people have about the quality of a public space? Overall, it seems like music in public space does not have a direct effect on people’s perceptions about the quality of a place. It could be argued that the more intensive the problems of a square are (like the safety and maintenance issues) and the more deeply rooted the perceptions towards those problems are, the less powerful a music event is. Yi-Fu Tuan (1977) also supports that people tend to deny and neglect the reality of their experiences in order to engage in “clichés of public speech” (p. 203). It might also be the case that in the empirical research the respondents tend to establish and discuss the general discourse towards the quality of Navarinou Square and deny the intimate experience that it is offered to them with the music performance. Moreover, Tuan’s approach (1977, p. 143) supports the research outcome concerning the consciousness of the experience; when the respondents were informed about the importance of the music in the research they all immediately began to negotiate the value of the performance in a different way. They realized it and linked it with attributes of public space that they didn’t do in the first part of the interview. A critical factor for the effect of a music performance into peoples’ perception about the qual ity of a public space is the quality of the music. Prato (1984, p. 159) has reflected towards this argument, supporting that the musical quality and virtuosity for outdoors musical events is very important in terms of the negotiation of an aesthetic experience. Kämpfe, Sedlmeier and Renkewitz (2011) give a sufficient explanation for this conclusion; music does not always have the same effect on people’s cognitive processes (p. 441). This means, that if the same empirical research was to be applied in a different population and a different public space, the results might have possibly been consistent with the theoretical approaches and expectations. Therefore, it could be argued that music cognition is a very delicate process and vulnerable to minimum changes. However, the elasticity of this cognitive process does not mean that each attempt to link it with other factors (such as quality of public space) is a failure. On the contrary, by interpreting and embodying the cultural background into the analytical process, as Tuan (1977) indicates, produces a unique result and conclusion for each culture. In regard to the specific empirical research, there is a critical cultural factor which changes radically the cognitive process of the subject people; the Greek economic crisis, which at the moment is strongly translated into a social and psychological crisis. A variety of scientific and journal articles as well as reports seek to reveal the way Greek people experience their everyday lives. Unfortunately, the so far discussion on the topic reflects a deeply pessimistic position of the average Greek towards subjects of daily life. As a result, it seems reasonable that the responses of the interviewees in the
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empirical research of this thesis reflect a pessimistic and negative aspect. What is more, the interviews were conducted during the pre-election and post-election period of May 2012. Therefore, it could be argued that the economic crisis along with the political instability of the period that the data was collected construct a respective framework around peoples’ perceptions and experiences.
5.2 Discussion In the theoretical framework of the research there has been a solid negotiation of Lefebvre’s Triad of Production of Space (1991), in order to support the perceptual and experiential aspect of the research aim. In the stage of the negotiation of the theoretical approaches it seemed that the triad would be of great importance for the analysis and the results as well. Therefore, during the whole empirical research and analysis, there was an attempt to constantly keeping in mind Lefebvre’s approach. The outcome of this attempt is a discussion on the results and conclusions of the empirical research through the prism of Lefebvre’s Spatial Triad. Henri Lefebvre, through his spatial triad negotiates the representations and practices of the social space. These representations and practices are the means through which perceptions and experiences are used to produce social space (Lefebvre, 1991). The spatial triad, as it has been mentioned in detail in chapter 2.2, consists of three elements in constant dialogical relationship. The first concept is that of the spatial practices, which refers to the space as it is perceived, at its physical form along with the networks and relations and the daily routines (Lefebvre, 1991, pp. 33, 38). The second concept refers to the representations of space. That is the conceived space, the space of the planners, geographers, urbanists etc. The last concept is that of the lived space and the corresponding spaces of representations. This aspect refers to the experiences, the symbolisms and the images of space. This concept, which manages to relate spatial and physical procedures with cognitive ones, is of great importance for the negotiation of the present research topic. It has been argued (in chapter 2.2), that the qualities of space, as proposed by Project for Public Spaces (2012)can be attributed to at least one aspect of the production of space. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate them for the case study in the context of the production of social space. The argument under discussion here is that in the case of Navarinou Square the production of social space through the music performance in public explains the reasons behind the failure of the initial expectations for the results and conclusions. In other words, the reasons why music in publ ic space does not seem to have a significant effect on peoples’ perceptions towards the quality of space in the case study can be reflected through Lefebvre’s spatial triad. As it has been mentioned, music produces space and therefore it can be reflected through the triad. The discussion begins with the representations of space. Music produces its own conceived space. In the present case, the researcher who applied the case study is the one who came up with a concept of a music event in Navarinou Square in order to collect data and reach some conclusions towards the research aim. Thus, the researcher has created an image, a representation of how the Navarinou Square should be like with the presence of the musicians. The expectations of the thesis in chapter 3.1 reflect the representations of space of the researcher. This means that the conceived effect that music was expected to have on each attribute of the square, constitute the representations of Navarinou Square with music.
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However, it should not be neglected that in this case there is also another factor which produces its own conceived space; the musicians themselves. The gipsy-swing triplet, while performing in the middle of the square, produce a conceptualization of the meanings, symbolisms, codes and emotions that their music should transpose to the audience. Gipsy-swing music has that romantic, retrospective sense which is transferred to the people of the square in a direct way. They do not have to turn their heads somehow or go somewhere to receive the musicians’ representations. They are available as long as the hearing sense is powerful. The second aspect of the triad is that of the spatial practices. The spatial practices of Navarinou Square refer to the perceptions that the users of the space have for the spatial attributes. These attributes are the values which indicate the quality of public space and reflect both physical facets of space as well as social relations, networks and interactions of the daily life of the square. Moreover, in the case that the conceived space is produced by the musicians, and not the researcher, music is considered to be a spatial practice too, as the musicians are part of the system of the spatial practices, while the researcher is not. The third concept is that of the lived space and the corresponding spaces of representations. Navarinou Square throughout its spatial practices reflects experiences, symbolisms and images of space, which result from the embodiment of the perceptions of the qualities of the square and are received by the users of the realm. The result of the empirical research indicates that music in public space does not seem to change the perceptions that the users have on those attributes of quality of public space. This argument can be translated in a Lefebvrian problematique: the conceived space comes to contradiction with the perceived and lived space of the square. The spatial practices of the daily life of Navarinou Square are so intensely constructed and translated to experiences of the lived space that it is almost impossible for the representations of space (conceived space) to alter the lived space and eventually the perceptions about the quality of the public space. This is the main reason why the majority of the expectations have been disproved. However, it could be argued that this Lefebvrian reflection of the problem of construction of space through the representations of music in the case study refers only to the conceived space of the researcher who seeks to reveal sub-conscious links between music and perception of space. In the first part of the empirical research, the respondents were not aware of the role that music played and therefore they did not sub-consciously filter their perceptions and experiences through the music cognition process. Yi-Fu Tuan (1977) adds to this perspective, suggesting that “people tend to suppress that which they cannot express”, and confirms that if the importance of an experi ence is not communicated in a direct way to the respondent, then he/she will not take it into account (pp. 6-7; 143). On the other hand, the conceived space of the musicians seems to be in a more conscious, dialectical and positive negotiation with the perceived and lived space. The emotions, feelings and representations of space that the musicians wanted to offer to the users of the square, the audience, seem to have been transported and translated into temporal spatial practices (people observing the musicians, listening and dancing to the music) and lived space. Especially in the case of the lived space, the symbolisms and emotions of the gipsy-swing music seem to have been easily produced into experiences of the public space, as the majority of the respondents reflected in a very positive and expected way on the conscious pleasure and attractiveness that the music performance
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offers20. This result might be due to the fact that from this point of view, the musicians are regarded to be part of the system of the production of space. From this perspective, it can be argued that music produces public space and gives new symbolic interpretations and functions of space (Young, 2012), which are more related to aesthetic appreciation rather than environmental (as in the case of the researcher’s conceived space). The former discussion of Lefebvre’s spatial triad in the context of music performance in public space seems to have two outcomes. The first one is that music served a double role in this empirical research: that of the representation of space from the researcher’s point of view, and that of the spatial practice as perceived by the musicians. Each aspect of music’s role in the production of space is related to an aspect of Lefebvre’s triad. Music as a representation of space seems to be more related to the spatial practices, despite the minimal effect that the first has to the latter in the case study21. On the contrary, music as a spatial practice presents a strong connection with the lived space22. The second outcome is related to the first one. It has been argued that music in public space can either be a representation of space or a spatial practice. The empirical research seems to reflect that each form of production of space is related to the cognitive process that the music was interpreted. In the first case, of the music as a representation of space, the effect of music on peoples’ perceptions towards the quality of public space has been examined in the first part of the interview through questions that did not reflect the importance of music on the evaluation of the attributes of the quality of space. The aim was to reveal the sub-conscious processes of cognition that relate music with the perceptions of space and highlight the intimate experiences constructed, despite their difficulty to be expressed (Tuan, 1977, pp. 136-137). Thus it can be argued that music as a representation of space manages to reflect on peoples’ sub-conscious lived spaces and spatial practices23. Accordingly, in the second case, when music is a spatial practice, it can be assumed that the fact that the role of the music was indicated to the respondents allowed them to negotiate the production of space in a more conscious way towards the representations of space but mostly towards the lived space.
20 In the empirical research this has been achieved by implying the importance of the music to the respondents. 21 In any other case, which might reflect a different cultural background (Tuan, 1977), music as a representation of space might have a sincere effect on the spatial practices. 22 This argument seems to be also supported by Cohen, who states that “collective musical symbols associate places with particular images, emotions, meanings and they provoke or shape social action.” (Cohen, 1995, p. 445) 23 For instance, people under the music stimulation seemed to express their opinion about this activity, even without being asked. It seems that the fact that there was a music event present at the same time with the interviews prompted them to talk about this topic.
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Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Recommendations
5.3 Policy Recommendations Landry (2000) recognises that cultural resources, such as public art, “are the raw materials of the city and its value base; its assets replacing coal, steel or gold” (p. 7). Public art and generally creative and cultural practices in the public realm are often used as catalysts for the revitalization and regeneration of public spaces (Tornaghi, 2007). Especially, within a context of Creative Cities and Culture-Led Regeneration expressions of creativity in the public space seem to enhance the humanization of planning and therefore the production of successful and qualitative urban realms (Landry C., Greene L., Matarasso F., Bianchini F., 1996). However, a unilateral imposition of creative activities in the public realm by the planners and policy makers, without the participation and appreciation of the experiences constructed by the civilians leads to a decline of the value of public life as well as an underestimation of the creative, social and/or political statement that the creative activity presents ( (Earl, 2011, pp. 126-127); (Baker S., Bennett A., Homan S., 2009, p. 162)). Minton (2009) reflects on this problem of public space by spotting the source of the issue on the persistence of planners and authorities in general to have everything under control. This tendency denies any sense of creativity and spontaneity out the public realm and does not allow the user of the space to engage with it (pp. 22-23). People’s participation in revitalization and regeneration procedures is very important to the successful, or not, outcome of such a strategy (Laopodi, 2002, p. 23). Bottom-up procedures, such as public art, that can later be included in a top-down strategy seem to be promoted as a very successful tool for urban regeneration and public space revitalization. In this research, the main research question is tightly linked to this perspective. By identifying the extent to which music in public space (a bottom- up procedure) affects the perception and experience of public space, urban planners and policy makers may take this power of music and use it as a tool for regeneration (top-down procedure). In the wider context of public space revitalization and regeneration through cultural and creative practices, music in public space seems to be one of the forms of public art which carries much potential. The attributes and powers of public art, as proposed by Hall & Robertson (2001) and Hall & Smith (2004) (see chapter 2.4.1) can relatively be reflected on music on public space. Based on the qualities of music performance in public space as well as the perceptions and experiences that were reflected through the present research it is possible to propose policy recommendations towards public space revitalization and regeneration through public music events. When the respondents of the empirical research were asked to reflect their opinion towards public music performance in the square the majority responded that they would like to attend those events and participate. They also agreed that Picture 28: A park in Berlin gets revitalized through music events in the square on a regular basis would regular karaoke events. Source: (Smith, 2012) prompt them to come more often to the square. As a result, the empirical data seem to verify the approaches of revitalization and regeneration through cultural and creative activities. The only thing left to do is incorporate the results of the empirical research about the perceptions and ex periences of space into a short guideline of policy recommendations.
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The most important recommendation is that the planner should be aware that his/her role is limited only to toss the stone in the pond and wait. The following guidelines reflect the catalytic moves of a strategy, which would lead to public space revitalization and regeneration through public music events within a bottom-up procedure.
The planner's and policy maker's role is to create the ideal conditions for the musical activities to flourish
Don't include only formal public spaces. Every corner of the public realm can function as a potential stage (Whyte, 1979; 1988)
Use any of your own "raw materials" and enhance social participation, inclusicity and multiculturalism (Landry, 2000)
Use in the begining some musicians of your choice in order to create a public positive discourse and encourage others to participate
Don't engage in subjective personal taste of genre and quality of music. Be open-minded and try to keep "an ear open" for local treasures
It's true that music quality matters. However don't audition musicians (Minton, 2009). If your catalytic selections are of high quality and originality then the overall atmosphere would be similar. The quality will be considered a critical condition for someone to decide to go in public and perform
Don't match representations of space with music genres. The fact that a space is of historical interest does not mean that is has to be matched with ancient music! Be creative, and enhance multiculturalism!
Give the basic infrastructures. Don't over-design
Don't over-promote the creative practices or else they would be fake. Let them be conceived as urban surprises! (Minton, 2009)
Don't use a time schedule. Allow the musician to perform whenever and wherever he/she wants. Thus you enhance the sense of surprise in the public realm! (Minton, 2009)
Promote the events as a public good. No financial relationship should be included in any level of the strategy and with anyone
Don't try to control the activities. Toss the stone and then leave it to be developed spontaneously (Minton, 2009)
Text Box 4: Policy Recommendations for Public Space Revitalization and Regeneration through Public Music Performances. Source: author’s edit
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Evaluation and Recommendations
6. Evaluation and Recommendations The research aim has been from the beginning very challenging. The available literature and theoretical background was very limited and the notions that seemed to construct the conceptual model of the main argument were from various scientific fields, some of which were not of any familiarity to the researcher (such as cognition). However, the constant negotiation with the theoretical aspects and the relations and linkages between them resulted in the discussion of a spatial practice within a social, cultural and cognitive context which adds great interest to the topic. The production of space and the construction of experiences seem to find a common field in the production of public space through a creative process, such as music performance. An outcome of the theoretical research that could be further researched is the negotiation of Henri Lefebvre’s triad of production of space through the prism of Yi-Fu Tuan’s perspective on experience and his experiential triad. Music is inherently a creative process. Therefore, it was considered that the create nature of music should be incorporated and reflected in the research design and methodology. Therefore, apart from the qualitative research design and its methodological tools, an extra tool was used, that of psychogeography in order to reflect more on the perceptions as well as to enhance creative thinking in the research process. By reflecting back to the selection of the proper research method it seemed very difficult and tricky to choose the method that would shine more light on the perceptions and experiences of people. At first a quantitative design was selected in order to incorporate also personal characteristics of the respondents as well as social, economic and cultural facts and figures. However, it was later decided that a qualitative research design will be able to dig in greater depth and reveal more interesting aspects of perceptions and experiences. Nevertheless, it is still considered that a quantitative approach will also reflect interesting aspects of the issue, and is therefore recommended as a future research. The empirical research and the music experiments were hard to be conceived and organised since there are lots of influential attributes that could change the result of the research. The selection of the proper public space, the selection of the music genre and the musicians that could assist in the research, the capability and time constraints of the musicians (since it is not feasible to ask of a band to perform six hours in a row to collect data), the proper time of the year (within the time limitations of the academic year), the time of the day, the day itself, the position in the square, the choice of respondents, the decision of whether or not the musicians should accept donations and a Greek unpredictable May weather were some of the issues that were dealt with during the data collection. It should be highlighted that music genre and quality play a major role in the research process. If there was to be selected another music genre than the gipsy-swing, let’s say the extreme case of punk rock, the reflections on perceptions and experiences would probably have been much different due to the music. Moreover, the performative nature of the event is also of high importance for the results and conclusions as there is a materializing of music in space. On the contrary, if music was to be played from a stereo, then the results would have been much different than in the present thesis. By reflecting more on this aspect of the research procedure – the music genre, quality and nature – future research can also be conducted from a more musicological or cognitive aspect. The analysis of the data and the results demanded for an out-of-the-box approach, as the variety of the theoretical aspects that needed to be reflected through the data was very wide and the links
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among them, at least in the beginning, not very clear. It might still be the case, that the interviews and psychogeographical data are not rigorously analysed and used. A researcher from more cognitive scientific fields or even with a background in ecological psychology might reveal more aspects on the issue. However, this aspect can also be viewed as a recommendation for further research. Another factor of the research procedure that seems to have influenced a lot the results and conclusions of the thesis is that of the respondents. As it has also been discussed in the theoretical framework and the conclusions, the cultural background of the population under research seems to play a significant role in the perceptions and experiences produced under the effect of a music performance (Tuan, 1977). Thus, it seems that if the same research design and methodology was to be applied in a different population the results might have been different. The psychological situation of the Greek people at the moment does not resemble to a normal one , due to the recession. They tend to be very pessimistic and focus only to the problems of everyday life; just like it was concluded in this research. So, probably, in any other square of any other city that does not face such a mostly sentimental crisis and crisis of the conscious the results would have been different. Though it seems that this susceptibility of the research design might be a “flaw”, since the results cannot be easily generalised, it is not believed that this is the case. In research topics related to perception and experiences the personal characteristics are of significant importance and as Sheikh (2004) suggests “there is no ideal generalized spectator”. Overall, the experience of conducting a qualitative research which included social interaction and familiarizing with more experiential aspects of urban life seems to be the most important outcome of the whole procedure for the researcher. Last, but not least, the researcher had the chance to work for six months on three beloved themes: public space, music and the city of Thessaloniki, and the personal pleasure and satisfaction of being able to reflect all three aspects at the same time as well as reach interesting –though challenging- results can only be regarded as a blessing.
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Bibliography
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Appendices
Appendices
Appendix 1: Semi-structured interview questionnaire Place: Navarinou Square, Thessaloniki, Greece
Date: Friday 4th and Saturday 5th of May, 2012 (with music performance)
Saturday 12th and Tuesday 15th of May, 2012(without music performance)
Time: during morning and noon hours
Scenario with music performance: a group of musicians (three in total) perform in the square, while the research conducts interviews with people either sitting in the square or passing by. The range of the sample is on people above 15 years old, regardless gender and other characteristics. In the beginning of the interview the research does not inform the interviewee on the importance and the role of music. The role of music and its potential influence on perception will be stated by the end of the interview, as followed by the questions.
Basic axis of interest:
- comfort o attractiveness o pleasure o safety - Sense of Community-Sociability o meeting place/playground o welcome - accessibility o accessibility and openness of square o role of square in the urban structure - use o active public space/activities o residency - Psychogeography - Role of music
1. Why are you here today?
2. What do you like in the square, and what don’t you like? Why? (attractiveness)
3. Do you think that it is a nicely and properly designed space? Why? (attractiveness)
4. Do you like to sit and spend some time in the square? Why? (pleasure)
5. Do you find it pleasant to be in the square and/or walk through it? Why? (pleasure)
6. Do you feel safe in the square at the moment? Why? (safety)
7. Do you feel safe in the square during other hours of the day? Why? (safety)
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8. Do you use the square as a meeting place with friends, family, etc? (meeting place)
a. Why yes? In which way? Where do you sit? What do you do?
b. Why not? Under which circumstances would you use the square?
9. Do you have a child? If yes, would you come with your child to play in the square’s playground?
Why? (playground)
10. Do you feel welcome in the square? Why? (welcome)
11. Do you think this square is accessible and open to everyone? (accessibility & openness)
12. Do you feel like this square is an important part of the city’s centre? (role of the square in the
urban structure)
13. Do you think this is an active public space? Does it have enough life and activities? Why? (active
public space)
14. What are the activities that you believe are characteristic and dominant of this square? Why?
(activities)
15. Would you like to be a resident of this square? Why? (residency)
16. Psychogeography: the interviewee is given a camera and is asked to take two pictures of objects, landmarks, people, activities in the square; anything that attracts his or her attention in a good way, or a bad way. The goal is to capture in two pictures what each person finds stimulating in the square, and eventually notice how many people would notice the musicians as stimulating factors.
17. Do you like it that there is a music band in the square? Why? (this question is only asked during
the interviews with music performance)
18. Does the presence of the musicians in the square help you feel safer? Why? (this question is
only asked during the interviews with music performance)
19. Does the presence of the musicians in the square make the place seem more attractive? Why?
(this question is only asked during the interviews with music performance)
20. Generally, when you meet street musicians, would you say that they change your mood? How?
21. When you meet street musicians do you usually stop to listen to them, or not? Why
22. Do you give money to street musicians or not? Why?
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23. If there were music activities on a regular base in the square, like concerts, performances etc,
would you come more often? Why?
24. If there were music activities on a regular base in the square, would you find the place more
attractive and safer?
25. Name
26. Age
27. Gender
28. Place of origin
29. Place of residency
30. Occupation
31. Education level
32. Frequency of visits in a month
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Appendix 2: Overview and Profile of the Respondents respondent name gender age children place of origin place of residency occupation education visits per week 1A ΕΝΣΑ female 52 yes Sweden Thessaloniki (Pefka) teacher University 1 2A ΜΑΡΙΑ female 37 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Ano Poli) photographer Highschool 7 3A ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΣΗ male 33 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Sikies) civil engineer Uni + MSc. 1 4A ΜΑΡΩ female 30 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki unemployed University 2 5A ΝΟΡΑ female 21 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Toumba) private employee College 7
6A ΣΕΛΙΟ male 29 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Toumba) entrepreneur University 7
7A ΔΗΜΗΣΡΗ male 18 no Kilkis Thessaloniki (railway station) student University 7 8A ΠΑΤΛΟ male 62 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Toumba) retired University 1 9A ΕΛΕΝΗ female she did not want to answer without music 10A ΓΙΩΡΓΟ male 45 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki University 0,25 11A ΑΝΔΡΟΜΑΧΗ female 18 no Larisa Thessaloniki (Papafi) student University 2 12A ΝΙΚΟΛΕΣΑ female 19 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Kalamaria) student University 2 13A ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟ male 20 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (western) student University 7 14A ΑΙΜΙΛΙΑ female 79 yes Florina Thessaloniki retired Higher 0 15A ΕΡΡΙΚΟ male 65 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Panorama) retired Higher 3
1B ΓΙΩΣΑ female 50 yes Thiva Thessaloniki household Elementary school 5 2B ΡΙΣΑ female 28 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki private employee college 0,7 3B ΑΝΑΣΑΙΑ female 20 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Ambelokipous) student Higher 2 4B ΓΙΩΡΓΟ male 23 no Giannitsa Thessaloniki student Higher 3 5B ΔΩΡΑ female 25 no Agrinio Thessaloniki student Higher 3
6B ΦΩΣΕΙΝΗ female 23 no Larisa Thessaloniki student University 4
7B ΚΑΣΕΡΙΝΑ female 38 yes Trikala Thessaloniki teacher University 7 8B ΖΩΗ female 49 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki lawyer University 7
with music 9B ΣΖΟΝΑΘΑΝ male 21 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (Faliro) chef Highschool 7 10B ΕΤΑΝΘΙΑ female 32 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki private employee Higher 4 11B ΧΡΙΣΙΝΑ female 40 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki doctor University 3 12B ΜΑΣΟΤΛΑ female 20 no Skiathos Thessaloniki (Sindos) student Higher 5 13B ΕΛΕΝΑ female 22 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki private employee college 6 14B ΕΤΣΤΧΙΑ female 42 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (eastern) Professor University + PhD 0,7 116
Appendices
15B ΓΙΩΡΓΟ male 62 yes Thessaloniki Thessaloniki retired University 5 16B ΝΙΚΟ male 39 no Thessaloniki Thessaloniki civil engineer University + MSc 0,2
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Appendix 3: Discourse Analysis of Respondents’ Priorities Towards the Factors and Values of Attractiveness in Navarinou Square
Source: author’s data and edit
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Appendices
Appendix 4: Tables of Discourse Analysis of the Empirical Research Data
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