In cities and towns across the United States, a new soundmark is emerging. Not the familiar sounds of traffic, construction, or commerce, but the sharp,

How a television soundtrack helped shape my path from electronic music to urban planning A Personal Connection I was a teenager when I first heard

I used to be really annoying about listening. Like, genuinely insufferable. Someone would complain about noise and I’d be like “well actually, if you just

Tom McCall Waterfront Park sits right next to I-5. If you’ve ever been there, you know: the freeway is loud. Constant white noise baseline. It

So I have this embarrassing habit where I pay $4.99 a month for a rain sounds app.

Let me repeat that: I literally pay money every month to listen to fake rain on my phone while actual free rain is happening outside my window approximately 200 days a year because I live in Portland.

I’m Kenya Williams, and if you’re here, you probably care about sound in some way. Maybe you’re curious about soundscapes. Maybe you’re an urban planner trying to figure out how acoustic environments fit into your work. Maybe you just really love listening to stuff and want to nerd out about it with someone who gets it.