Sounds of gentrification, sounds of resistance, sounds of home

Keywords: gentrification, housing, tenant, sound, soundscape, resistance
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Across the street from Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum and the LAFC soccer stadium, tenants are fighting to stay in their rent-controlled homes in a gentrifying area. This paper explores their multifaceted acoustic relationships to the contested spaces around them, including how they use sound in their organized struggle to build tenant power in the context of multiple top-down development projects nearby. I build on the work of scholars who examine gentrification in relation to how soundscapes are essential to sense of place (Sakakeeny 2010), how sound/noise is policed (Graziani et al. 2022; Ramírez 2020), how construction and development introduce new forms of noise pollution, and how sound is used in resistance (Summer 2020). Drawing on interviews and participation in tenant meetings, I show how all these acoustic relationships are in play for the neighbors of this 'sports and entertainment district,' shaping their evolving senses of space and place and impacting how they articulate the importance of their struggle to remain.

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