Cooperating for sustainable development

SDMed launched a major event in 2013 in Athens: "EchoPolis - Days of Sound 2013"

Today, when western society is acutely concerned with the questions of individual existence, strongly accentuated by the economic and financial crisis, the emotions are once again at the forefront of our concerns. Social progress also implies that emotions, which have so long been ignored when major decisions were made, be taken fully into account in the construction of our urban world. Our urban world, architecture, the city, and the neighbourhood, naturally, seem to build on emotion, either it is positive or negative but still prohibiting indifference.The event «Echopolis Athena 2013» will deal with ways to enrich sustainable architecture and sustainable city with a new dimension, that of the emotions and senses ...... who can certainly contribute to the rebirth of hope in society and in the city that is plagued by economic decline and collapsing due to the crisis.The contemporary and future city is being flooded by networks of interconnections both internally and with other urban and spatial scales (its region, the national and supranational level ..), it is increasingly using new digital technologies to regulate its functions. Thus, a firm integration of sensations and emotions in designing sustainable city can only be based on digital technologies and catch up with their progress. Concepts such as interactivity with the user and the inhabitant of the city, are becoming increasingly important in the design of the urban environment and the everyday life.

The event "EchoPolis Athena 2013" will focus on one of the most important senses: hearing, thus drawing attention to the sound quality of the urban environment and how, resources and tools  can be used so that  sounds, noises and music become design elements and factors of enrichment of sustainability in cities and neighborhoods. Relatively recently, the concepts of soundscape and sound design leave the research laboratories and invade the market, the world of professionals  and the discourse between designers and all those involved in the application of sound design in the city, architects, engineers, private companies of sound equipment and facilities.The EchoPolis Days of Sound 2013  major festival event was hosted by the french-hellenic and International SDMed Association which works for sustainable urban development in the Mediterranean and the Balkans on 29.9-3.10,2013 in Athens. The Event EchoPolis 2013 used as motto :"Re-invent emotions in the City, let's feel them, let's hear the city sounds" !

• Important scientific part of the festival will be the Echo&Polis International Conference "Sounds, noise and music for re-thinking sustainable city, buildings and econeighborhood"
• The conference offered a platform for interdisciplinary dialog and presentations of innovative research and development in the field of integrating sound in sustainable building and city planning and design, covering a wide range of subjects from sonic geography, ecology and soundscapes to the noise carthography and recent developments of sound design in general.

“Echo&polis 2013” invited specialists from academic and research institutions, industry and public institutions worldwide to present their innovative work. To be on the mailing list, please subscribe to the SDMed newsletter ( www.sd-med.org) or send an email to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Main organizer of the conference, the SDMed observation Network is known internationally for high-level events and research in the domain of sustainable buildings, cities and eco-neighborhoods in the Mediterranean basin.

Academic partners of the conference are specialists from French, Greek and other world-wide Universities and Research Centers, backed by a strong international scientific committee.

The Echo&polis 2013 Conference Topics were the following :

• "Sonic Geography-Sonic Landscapes-Sonic Ecology"
• "Sound and music in emotional architecture and emotional city"
• "Sound design and eco-innovation in cities"
• "Sound and Noise in sustainable cities and econeighborhoods"
• "Sustainable abatement of noise by optimized combinations of natural and artificial means"
• "Urban and rural quiet areas-Sound and noise Cartography-Strategic noise plans"
• "Noise exposure and effects on health, Noise action plans,annoyance maps"
• "Sound environment, Noise, Music,city attractiveness and sustainable tourism" 
• "Sound Heritage and soundscapes"
• "Sound and Noise in transport infrastructure" 
• "Sound and Noise in sustainable buildings"
• "Balancing energy performance, thermal insulation, acoustic comfort and air quality in buildings"

The event targeted :

• the recognition and enhancement of the sound dimension of our lives
• exploring the role of sound in the way of perceiving, feeling, and thinking
• considering the environment in our everyday life as an aesthetic system where sound is an important factor.
• complementing the way we see architecture and urbanism, with a new design factor and parameter : the"sound"
• promoting the idea of enriching the academia and research with the specification of sound design (design sonore in french)
• promote presentation of modern materials and management systems (of sound and noise protection, sounds creation and patterns of use of sounds)

Were present : 

Sound, acoustics and sound design scientists.

Architects, urban planners, sociologists, psychologists, philosophers

Academics and researchers in the above fields.

Companies that deal with related materials and building systems

Companies that deal with the supply of technological equipment of management, creation and use of sounds

Cities and networks of cities having developed innovative solutions for noise abatement or use of sound and music for increasing attractiveness

The official conference languages were English, French and Greek. 

See also :

EchoPolis Cultural Event

"Echopolis Soundscape Award"  

The venues of the event

1 - The Foundation "Michalis Kakoyannis"    

2 - The auditorium of the French Institute of Greece  

Partners and supporters

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