Living with Energy Transition explored overlapping energy regimes in Aberdeen and asked what it means to live with energy transition. The project was grounded in St Fittick’s park, a green space in Torry currently under threat from a proposed Energy Transition Zone (ETZ).
At the centre of the project was a series of four soundwalks developed and led by artist Maja Zećo. The soundwalks aimed to explore insights from ongoing research by urbanist William Otchere-Darko and anthropologist Gisa Weszkalnys who, starting in 2021, have examined the ambivalent and critical responses to the ETZ using interviews, observation, and other qualitative social science methods. The soundwalks took place between September 2023 and April 2024, each taking a different route around St Fittick’s Park, Torry, Aberdeen. They were open to the public, and participants included both people from Torry who know the site intimately and some people who visited for the first time.
The project was co-organised by anthropologist Gisa Weszkalnys, urbanist William Otchere-Darko, curator Rachel Grant (Fertile Ground), artist-researcher Maja Zećo and community partner, Friends of St Fittick’s Park.
At the centre of the project was a series of four soundwalks developed and led by artist Maja Zećo. The soundwalks aimed to explore insights from ongoing research by urbanist William Otchere-Darko and anthropologist Gisa Weszkalnys who, starting in 2021, have examined the ambivalent and critical responses to the ETZ using interviews, observation, and other qualitative social science methods. The soundwalks took place between September 2023 and April 2024, each taking a different route around St Fittick’s Park, Torry, Aberdeen. They were open to the public, and participants included both people from Torry who know the site intimately and some people who visited for the first time.
The project was co-organised by anthropologist Gisa Weszkalnys, urbanist William Otchere-Darko, curator Rachel Grant (Fertile Ground), artist-researcher Maja Zećo and community partner, Friends of St Fittick’s Park.
‘Soundwalking the energy transition: will Aberdeen's clean energy ambitions damage its local community?’ is a joint interview with Gisa Weszkalnys, Rachel Grant (Fertile Ground) and artist-researcher Maja Zećo. Available to read here.
‘Living with Energy Transition - Soundwalks in Words’ publication is available to download for free. The publication shares reflections from the project organisers on the soundwalk series, including the methodology of soundwalking and its collaborative and interdisciplinary nature, as well as comments and notes from the participants. While reading the text, you can listen to some field recordings of St Fittick's.
Designed by Maja Zećo.
‘Living with Energy Transition - Soundwalks in Words’ publication is available to download for free. The publication shares reflections from the project organisers on the soundwalk series, including the methodology of soundwalking and its collaborative and interdisciplinary nature, as well as comments and notes from the participants. While reading the text, you can listen to some field recordings of St Fittick's.
Designed by Maja Zećo.
| Soundwalks in words.pdf |
Bios
Gisa Weszkalnys is Associate Professor in Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research has explored future making as a political, material, and imaginative practice, for example, in the context of city planning, in emerging oil economies and, more recently, in the transition to a post-carbon society.
Maja Zećo is a practice-based artist researcher exploring identities and listening in spaces of socio-political tensions and post-conflict areas. Her sound and performance pieces have been presented internationally, and her writing was published in Organised Sound (Cambridge University Press) and Journal of Sonic Studies (Leiden University Press).
William Otchere-Darko (Newcastle University) is an urbanist with an interdisciplinary interest in energy, environmental politics, and planning practices. His research focuses on the institutional practices and lived experiences of energy spaces, infrastructures, and broader ecological contentions.
Friends of St Fittick’s aim to protect St Fittick’s Park and the adjacent green areas from the ETZ development, and celebrates the park as a place to be used and enjoyed by people living in Torry and Aberdeen and collaborates with other action groups in the city region to maintain and improve the park and its biodiversity.