Seville´ sound cartographies. Music, scene and public space in the democratic city (1975-2024)

Abstract

This research aims to map the ephemeral occupation of space by certain musical phenomena in Seville, a city declared: City of Music by UNESCO. Despite the role of music as experienced in its streets, the declaration makes no reference to it. In a context of increasing virtualisation of social behaviours and debates around the spectacularisation of public space, musical events emerge as valuable analogue forms of representation. Both traditional urban rites and spontaneous manifestations are
considered, as long as they take place in public space and within the time frame from the democratic transition to the present day. With the aim of recognising their intangible heritage value and unveiling a new interpretation of the urban map, the events are classified based on the movement of music through the city: dynamic path, fragmentation, and static representation. This is approached through a manipulable and experimental method that brings together multiple realities within a
single temporal and physical plane. For the cartographic development, references are drawn from other contexts and scales: from territorial ones, where ancestral cultures leave their intangible mark through songs and sound languages; to urban ones, where contemporary artists explore places through surprise, improvisation, or sensory immersion. Although often studied from disciplines outside of urban planning, they are also substantially dependent on the city’s physical framework. This journey through musical Seville delves into the singularities and universalities of its urban and architectural relationship with music, through cartographies that disseminate, value, and protect this heritage.