Hey there, thanks for stopping by.

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.

Whatever brought you here, welcome. I’m glad you found this corner of the internet.

What This Space Is About

This site is where I bring together all the different threads of my work with sound, place, and community. It’s part portfolio, part research hub, part creative outlet, and part ongoing conversation about how we listen to and shape the world around us.

You’ll find writing about soundscapes, urban planning, field recording, and the intersection of sound and social equity. You’ll learn about my work through Hush Soundscape Planning & Design, Adore Recordings, and Community HiFi. You’ll get behind-the-scenes glimpses into projects, research, and the occasional weird acoustic phenomenon I can’t quite explain.

Mostly, though, this is a space for exploring the question: How do we create environments where people can actually hear each other, hear nature, and hear themselves think?

It’s a bigger question than it sounds like (pun intended).

A Little About Me (The Short Version)

I’m an urban planner, soundscape researcher, and creative soundpreneur based in Portland, Oregon. I’ve spent the last couple decades working at the intersection of sound, space, and community, trying to figure out how we can design cities that sound as good as they look.

I founded Hush Soundscape Planning & Design, the first urban planning and design firm specializing in soundscape planning. I run Adore Recordings, a genre-neutral record label I started back in 1997 (yeah, I’m old). I created Community HiFi to foster deeper listening and sonic well-being in communities. And I earned my PhD studying how planners and designers understand soundscape thinking in public spaces.

Basically, I’ve made sound my whole personality, and I’m weirdly okay with that.

Why I Built This Site

For years, my work has been scattered across different platforms, organizations, and contexts. If you wanted to know about my urban planning research, you’d go one place. If you wanted to hear about Adore Recordings, you’d go somewhere else. If you were curious about soundscape planning, that was yet another silo.

But here’s the thing: it’s all connected. The research informs the practice. The creative work influences the planning. The community engagement shapes the theory. Separating these threads made less and less sense as my work evolved.

So I built this space to bring it all together. To show how soundscape thinking can bridge art and science, community and policy, creativity and planning.

Also, honestly? I wanted a place where I could just write about sound without worrying about whether it fits a particular publication’s vibe or academic journal’s format. Sometimes I want to get deeply theoretical. Sometimes I want to tell you about the weird noise my refrigerator makes at 3am. This is the space for both.

What Makes This Different

There are plenty of sites about urban planning. Plenty about sound design. Plenty about music and field recording and acoustic ecology.

But the intersection of all these things, especially with a focus on equity, community, and the lived experience of sound in cities? That’s less common.

I’m not just interested in documenting soundscapes (though I do that). I’m interested in changing them. In helping communities understand and advocate for the acoustic environments they deserve. In training the next generation of planners to think with their ears, not just their eyes. In creating more sonic equity in a world that’s increasingly loud and increasingly unequal in its distribution of that loudness.

This work sits at the nexus of urbanism, ecology, social justice, and creative practice. It’s interdisciplinary by necessity, because sound itself refuses to stay in neat categories.

How to Navigate This Space

Honestly? However you want.

You can dive into the blog and read chronologically or jump around to whatever catches your interest. You can explore specific projects. You can learn about the different organizations I’m part of. You can just poke around and see what you find.

If you’re an urban planner or designer, you might be most interested in the case studies and methodology posts. If you’re a sound nerd, the field recording stories and weird acoustic phenomena are probably your jam. If you’re into music and creative practice, check out the Adore Recordings section. If you care about community and equity, the Community HiFi work and sonic justice writing might resonate.

There’s no wrong way to explore. Follow your ears.

An Invitation

This site isn’t just a portfolio or an archive. It’s an ongoing project, a living document of how my thinking about sound and place continues to evolve.

I’m hoping it can become a resource for anyone interested in soundscapes, whether you’re a seasoned professional or someone who just started noticing that your neighborhood sounds different than it used to and wants to understand why.

I’m hoping it can be a gathering place for people who believe that sound matters, that listening is a practice worth cultivating, and that we can design better acoustic environments if we’re intentional about it.

And I’m hoping it can contribute, in some small way, to building a world where everyone has access to soundscapes that nourish rather than deplete them. Where quiet isn’t a luxury. Where sonic diversity is valued. Where we plan our cities with our ears as well as our eyes.

Big goals, I know. But someone’s gotta try.

Let’s Connect

I genuinely want to hear from you. What’s your relationship with sound? What acoustic environments do you love or hate? What questions do you have about soundscapes and how we shape them?

You can reach me through the contact page, find me on social media (links below), or just drop a comment on any post. I read everything, and I try to respond to everyone.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening.

Now let’s explore some soundscapes together.

Kenya