Knowledge Cafe – Do You Hear What I Hear? Accounting for Subjectivity in Community Consultation

Toronto’s Municipal Code 591 defines “noise” as “a sound that a person finds disturbing to their peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort or convenience,” and “unreasonable noise” as “any noise that would disturb the peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort or convenience of a reasonable person in the circumstances” (591-2, 3). Meanwhile, downtown Toronto’s population is growing and densifying. With more people, cars, and construction, the urban core’s soundscape will become louder, more layered, and more diverse – especially as more mixed-use developments are built. The stage is set for increasing conflicts over what constitutes “reasonable” or “unreasonable” sound – and who constitutes a “reasonable” or “unreasonable” person or perspective.

Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Faculty of Music, Farzaneh Hemmasi will introduce the Kensington Market Soundscape Study (KMSS), a community-engaged, team ethnographic research project into local programming, conversations and conflicts relating to sound, noise, and music in downtown Toronto’s most famously diverse, historically mixed-use neighbourhood. Her study focuses on the post-pandemic re-introduction of the Pedestrian Sundays street festival and how community partners attempt to manage the festival’s sonically dense atmosphere