Hörstadt/ Acoustic City regards our acoustic living space as a precious common good. The wellbeing of all requires a conscious arrangement of our audible living conditions in keeping with human dignity.

The notorious disregard for the acoustic dimension comes at a great cost to all of us: billions are spent every year for noise protection without even coming close to the desired noise reduction. Every fifth EU citizen over the age of 14 suffers irreversible hearing damage – due to the noise level of our world as well as carelessness about hearing, for instance in the form of consuming excessively loud music through headphones situated deep in the ear.

It is high time to place socially explosive acoustic issues prominently on the political agenda!

As European Capital of Culture 2009, the City of Linz took up an initiative from Hörstadt and passed the Linz Charter with objectives and values for urban planning in an acoustic sense, thus becoming the first city in the world to make acoustics a political topic.

For this reason, Hörstadt has shown with the study Urban Vision Linz – The Whole City, Half the Noise how a new conception of traffic can reduce noise in the city by half.

For this reason, Hörstadt has campaigned with “Beschallungsfrei – Free From Imposed Noise” for sensory self-determination and against imposed noise in the public sphere with background music.

For this reason, Hörstadt operates the unique museum of hearing Akustikon in Linz, insisting on the emancipation of the audible in urban development, urban planning and traffic planning, and in construction and architecture.

Prick up your ears, take a listen!

The exhibition is open from 7 to 11 June 2010.

In case you don't have an access badge for the European Parliament, please register until Wednesday, 2 June under the following e-mail address: eva.lichtenberger@europarl.europa.eu