Dr Antonella Radicchi

Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Sustainability

School of Engineering and the Built Environment - BE

Email:: Antonella.Radicchi@bcu.ac.uk

Dr Antonella Radicchi holds a BA and MA in Architecture with honours and a PhD in Urban Design and Territorial Planning (University of Firenze, Italy) with doctoral studies conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) as a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar. She is a Licensed Architect (Board of Architects, Firenze, Italy).

In 2022, she joined Birmingham City University. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Sustainability in the Department for the Built Environment, where she leads the MA Planning Built Environments Course and several Modules (Placemaking, Individual Master’s Project, Digital Cities).

From 2016 to 2022, she worked at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, a HEAD-Genuit Foundation Research Fellow and a Senior Research Associate. In 2019 she was visiting HEAD-Genuit Foundation Research Fellow at the New York University (USA). From 2020 to 2022, she was a Senior Research Associate at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, where she managed the Horizon2020 European Citizen Science project.

Before 2016, she worked in the architecture practice and academic sectors in Italy and the US.

Beyond academia, she has been committed to scientific outreach to raise public awareness on environmental sustainability issues by conducting invited public soundwalks and workshops internationally.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Memberships

Teaching

Research

Publications

Book(s)

Radicchi, A. (2012). Sull’immagine sonora della città (On the Sonic Image of the City). Florence: FUP Firenze University Press. ISBN: 978-88-6655-295-6, e-ISBN: 978-88-6655-278-9 (open access, written in Italian)

Edited collections of peer-reviewed journals

Vida Manzano, J., Radicchi, A., Xiao, J., (expected 2023). Urban Design for Sustainable Urban Environment, special issue of the Sustainability journal.
Xiao, J., Aletta, F., Radicchi, A. (eds). (2022). Smells, Well-being and the Built Environment, Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. ISSN 1664-8714 - ISBN 978-2-88976-160-9. DOI 10.3389/978-2-88976-160-9
Radicchi, A. et al. (eds). (2021). Sound and the Healthy City, special issue of the journal Cities & Health, v5, issue 1-2, pp. 1-209. Routledge, Taylor and Francis. Print ISSN 2374-8834

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

Radicchi, A. & Henckel, D. (under review). “Planning artificial light at night for pedestrian visual diversity in public spaces”. Sustainability journal
Radicchi, A. (under review). “Measuring the immaterial: experiential qualities of everyday quiet areas”, Journal of Urban Design
Alberti, F. & Radicchi, A. (2022). “The Proximity City: a comparative analysis between Paris, Barcelona and Milan / La prossimità nei progetti urbani: una analisi comparative fra Parigi, Barcellona e Milano”, TECHNE Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, 23, 69-77 ISSN online 2239-0243
Xiao, J., Aletta, F., Radicchi, A. (2022). “Editorial: Smells, Well-Being and the Built Environment”, Frontiers in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.880701 (open access)
Xiao, J., Aletta, F., Radicchi, A. et al. (2021). “Recent Advancements in Smellscape Research for the Built Environment”, Frontiers in Psychology, 12:700514. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700514 (open access)
Alsina-Pagès, R., Ginovart-Panisello, G., Freixes, M. and Radicchi, A. (2021). “A Soundwalk in the heart of Poblenou superblock in Barcelona: Preliminary study of the acoustic events”, Noise Mapping, 8, pp. 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1515/noise-2021-0016 (open access)
Radicchi, A. & Grant, M. (2021). “From noise to soundscape in the service of urban health”. City Know How of Sound and the Healthy City, a special issue of the journal Cities & Health, 5:1-2, pp. 15-19. doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2020.1851344 (open access)
Radicchi, A. et al. (2021). “Sound and the Healthy City”. Leading article of Sound and the Healthy City, a special issue of the journal Cities & Health, 5:1-2, pp. 1-13, DOI: 10.1080/23748834.2020.1821980 (open access)
Radicchi, A. (2020). “Berlino Swim City? Riflessioni in cammino lungo la Sprea a Berlino” (“Is Berlin a Swim City? Reflections on a walk along the Spree River”), Eco Web Town Journal of Sustainable Design, no. 21. http://www.ecowebtown.it/n_21/07.html (open access, written in Italian) ISSN 2039-2656
Torresin, S., Aletta, F. (…), Radicchi, A. and Albatici, B. (2020). “Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research”, Sustainability, 12(15), 6054. doi.org/10.3390/su12156054 (open access)
Radicchi, A. (2019). “Soundwalking with children for a quieter and healthier city”, Cities & Health, 3:1-2, 78-84. doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2019.1578455
Tsaligopoulos, A., Karapostoli, A., Radicchi, A., Economou, C., Kyvelou, S., Matsinos, Y. G. (2019). “Ecological Connectivity of Urban Quiet Areas: The Case of Mytilene, Greece”, Cities & Health, 5:1-2, pp. 20-32. doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2019.1599093
Radicchi, A., Henckel, D., Memmel, M. (2018). “Citizens as smart, active sensors for a quiet and just city. The case of the open source soundscapes approach to identify, assess and plan everyday quiet areas in cities”, Noise Mapping, 4, pp.104-122. degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/noise-2018-0001/html?lang=en
Radicchi, A. & Signorelli, V. (2015). “Mappature sonore, aree di quiete e strategie di controllo del rumore/Soundmaps, quiet areas and noise control strategies”, Urbanistica, 153, pp. 31-136. ISSN: 0042-1022 (written in Italian and English)
Radicchi, A. (2011). “Sull’immagine sonora della città/On the Sonic Image of the City”, Urbanistica, 146, pp. 96-100. ISSN: 0042-1022 (written in Italian and English)

Referred chapters in edited books

Alberti, F. & Radicchi, A. (accepted for publication, 2022). “From the Neighborhood Unit to the 15-Minute City. Past and Recent Models for the Post-Covid Cities”, in Mohammed, H. (ed.) Urban and Transit Planning – Edition 3 – City Planning: Urbanization and Circular Development, Springer.
Radicchi, A. (2021), “Combined Sound and Light Walks. A novel, mixed method to assess the sonic and light urban environment at night”, in Piga, B. E. A., Siret, D., Thibaud, J-P. (eds) Experiential Walks for Urban Design. Revealing, Representing, and Activating the Sensory Environment. Springer International Publishing, pp. 77-91. ISBN: 978-3-030-76693-1
Radicchi, A. (2021). “Citizen science mobile apps for soundscape research and public space studies. Lessons learned from the Hush City project” in Skarlatidou, A., Haklay, M. (eds) Geographic Citizen Science Design: No One Left Behind, UCL Press, pp. 130-148. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv15d8174.14 ISBN: 9781787356122 (open access)
Radicchi, A. (2019). “The notion of soundscape in the realm of sensuous urbanism. A historical perspective” in Wilson, A. (ed.) Sound Worlds from the Body to the City: Listen! Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publisher, pp. 99-125. ISBN: 978- 1527523883
Luna, S., Gold, M. (…), Radicchi, A., Schade, S., Sturm, U. (2018). “Developing mobile applications for environmental and biodiversity citizen science: considerations and recommendations”, in Joly, A., Vrochidis, S., Karatzas, K., Karppinen, A., Bonnet, P. (eds). Multimedia Technologies for Environmental & Biodiversity Informatics. Springer International Publishing, pp. 9-30. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76445-0_2
Radicchi, A. (2017). “A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking. Some introductory notes on its origin, established methods and four experimental variations”, in Besecke, A., Meier, J., Pätzold, R., Thomaier, S. (eds.) Stadtökonomie – Blickwinkel und Perspektiven | Perspectives on urban economics . Berlin: TU Berlin Press, pp. 70-73. ISBN: 978-3-7983-2919-5 doi: 10.14279/depositonce-5910 (open access)
Mayr, A. & Radicchi, A. (2013). “Time Walk”, in Henckel, D., Thomaier, S., Könecke, B., Zedda, R., Stabilini, S. (eds) Space Time Design of the Public City. Berlin: Springer Publishing, pp. 86-97.
doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6425-5_7 ISBN : 978-94-007-6424-8

Chapters in edited books

Radicchi, A. (2019). “Hush City. From crowdsourced data to open source planning of quieter and healthier cities”, in Besters, M., Marrades Sempere, R., Kahne, J. (eds) OUR CITY? Countering Exclusion in Public Space, Placemaking Europe Publications, pp. 367-370. ISBN: 978-90-830089-0-5
Radicchi, A. & Rojas, F. (2009). “Soundscapes Oltrarno”, in Frenchman, D., Mitchell, W. (eds) Technology, Livability and the Historic City. Future of Firenze. MIT Press, pp. 80-85. ISBN 978-0-9794774-3-0

Articles in professional practice journals

Radicchi, A. (2021). “Integrating soundscape in urban design, planning and landscape”, Landscape Journal, issue 2, pp. 33-35. ISSN: 1742–2914 (open access)
Dunbavin, P. & Radicchi, A. (2018). “The Hush City project and its relevance to planning policy”, Acoustic Bulletin, 43(5), pp. 34-40. ISSN: 0308-437X

Selected articles in conference proceedings

Radicchi, A. & Henckel, D. (2022). “Planning artificial light at night for pedestrian visualdiversity in public spaces”. In Conticelli, E., Marzani, G., & Tondelli, E., Proceedings of the International Conference Shaping light for health and wellbeing in cities, 16-17 December 2021, pp. 32-34. ISBN 9788854970823 - https://doi.org/10.6092/UNIBO/AMSACTA/6863
Alberti, F. & Radicchi, A. (2021). “From the Neighborhood Unit to the 15-Minute City. Past and Recent Urban Models for the Post-Covid Future”. Proceedings of Science and Technology, International Conference on Urban Planning and Architectural Design for Sustainable Development, Florence (IT), September 14-16 2021. ISSN (Print: 2537-0731, online: 2537-074X)
Radicchi, A. (2020). “Are POPS effective design and planning tools that can favour the creation of healthy, open spaces in contemporary cities? Notes from an empirical study in New York,” in Talia M. (ed), La città contemporanea: un gigante dai piedi d”argilla. Proceedings of the International Conference Urbanpromo XVI edizione Progetti per il Paese. Planum Publisher, Roma-Milano, pp. 340-346. ISBN 9788899237226 (open access)
Radicchi, A. (2020). “Passeggiate partecipate e tecnologia mobile citizen science. L’esperienza del processo partecipativo per la redazione del piano delle aree quiete di Berlino 2019-2023”("Participatory walks and mobile citizen science technology. The experience of the participatory process for the Berlin Quiet Areas Plan 2019-2023"), Urbanistica Informazioni no. 289, Atti della XII Giornata internazionale di Studi INU/12° International INU Study Day “Benessere e/o salute? 90 anni di studi, politiche, piani / Welfare and/or Health? 90 Years of studies, policies and plans”, 18 December 2020. (written in Italian)
Hasegawa, Y., Lau S-K, Radicchi A. (2020). “Assessments of users' living soundscapes in a tropical urban city exploring objective audio-visual components and subjective perceptions with the mobile application technology’. Proceedings of Internoise 2020 E-Congress, 23-26 August 2020, Seoul, South Korea.
Radicchi, A. (2019). “A soundscape study in New York. Reflections on the application of standardized methods to study everyday quiet areas.”, Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics 2019, 9-13 September 2019, Aachen (DE). ISBN: 978-3-939296-15-7 – ISSN: 2226-7808 and 2415-1599
Radicchi, A. (2019). “Is a Noisy City Sustainable?” in Beth, A. et al. (Eds.). Proceedings from EDRA 50: Sustainable urban environments. Brooklyn, NY: Environmental Design Research Association.
Radicchi, A. (2018). “Everyday quiet areas. What they mean and how they can be integrated in city planning processes”, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, InterNoise19, 26-29 August 2018, Chicago (USA), pages 2984 – 3995, pp. 3727-3735(9). ISSN 0736-2935
Radicchi, A. (2017). “The HUSH CITY app. A new mobile application to crowdsource and assess “everyday quiet areas” in cities”, Invisible Places. Sound, Urbanism and the Sense of Place, Proceedings of the International Conference Invisible Places, São Miguel, Azores, pp. 511-528. e-ISBN: 978-989-746- 129-3
Radicchi, A. (2013). “Emotional Geography and Soundscape Studies. Beyond the cognitive approach in (sound)mapping urban spaces”, in Morello E., Piga B. (eds) Envisioning Architecture: Design, Evaluation, Communication, Proceedings of the XI International Congress EAEA11 European Architectural Envisioning Association. Milan: Nuova Cultura Publisher, pp. 267-272. ISBN: 978-8868121365
Radicchi, A. (2012). “The Sonic Niche. A new design tool to enhance and create atmospheres through sounds in the contemporary city”, in Thibaud, J-P., Siret, D. (eds) Ambiances in Action / Ambiances en acte(s), Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Ambiances. Montreal: Ambiances International Network / Ambiances Reseau International, pp. 253-258. ISBN: 978-2952094832

Technical and research reports

Radicchi, A. (2022). EU-Citizen.Science. The platform for sharing, initiating, and learning Citizen Science in Europe. Final Periodic Technical Report. Part B. Submitted to the European Commission Research Executive Agency.
Radicchi A., Fabó Cartas, C., Sanz, F., Camacho, P. (2021). Citizen Science for Policy Across Europe, MfN, Berlin, Germany. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5820364
Radicchi A. (2020). Berlin Hush City Master Plan, Technical Report of the research project Hush City Mobile Lab, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Submitted to the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
Radicchi A. (2020). Final Research Report of the research project Hush City Mobile Lab, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Submitted to the HEAD-Genuit Foundation.
Radicchi A. (2019). The open source soundscapes approach to everyday quiet areas. Criteria and recommendations for the Berlin Plan of Quiet Areas (2018-2023), Technical University of Berlin. Technical Report submitted to the Municipality of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Radicchi A. (2018). Final Research Report of the research project Beyond the Noise: Open Source Soundscapes, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Submitted to the EC &TU Berlin/Ipodi Program.

Invited Presentations at international conferences

Future Cities Festival, 20-21 October 2021, Bristol (UK), online. Invited panellist in the session “How cities might sound in the future” (with Dan Hill and Peter Madden).
Cluster Event about Institutional Changes, European Commission, 1 July 2021, online. Invited presentation: “The EU-Citizen.Science project”.
Conference “Soundscape in urban and building design”, University of Trento, 17 September 2021, Trento (IT), online. Invited presentation: “Hush City: open source planning of quiet areas in cities“ (“Hush City: pianificare dal basso aree di quiete urbane“).
UCL Cities Partnership Programme: “Light and Sound for Heritage sites”, London, UK, 21 June 2021, online. Talk: “Combined sound and light walk as a method for collective inquiry and knowledge production. Reflections about potentialities and challenges for future research” (with Dietrich Henckel).
Final Symposium 2020 COST-Action Citizen Science to promote creativity, scientific literacy, and innovation throughout Europe, 3 September 2020, online. Invited presentation: “The EU-Citizen.Science project”.
Conference “Il respiro della città. Stili di vita e dinamiche di mobilità” (“The breath of the city. Lifestyles and mobility dynamics”, University of Rome "La Sapienza", 13 January 2020, Rome (IT). Invited presentation: “La pianificazione delle aree di quiete urbana come infrastrutture essenziali della città sana“ (“Planning urban quiet areas as essential infrastructures of healthy cities“).
International Congress 178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 2-6 December 2019, San Diego (USA). Invited presentation: “Untapping the potential of soundwalks as participatory methods for co-designing smart cities“.
23rd International Congress on Acoustics, 9-12 September 2019, Aachen (DE). Invited presentation: “A soundscape study in New York. Reflections on the application of standardized methods to study everyday quiet areas“.
International Congress Inter-noise 2019, 17-19 June 2019, Madrid (ES). Invited presentation: “Smart Citizens for Sound Cities“.
International Congress Inter-noise 2019, 17-19 June 2019, Madrid (ES). Invited presentation: “Mobile applications for environmental noise and soundscape evaluation”.
International Congress 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 13-17 May 2019, Kentucky (USA). Invited presentation: “An experimental soundscape study, combining binaural recordings, in-situ questionnaires and behavioral mapping“.
CONAMA, 2018 International Conference on the Environment, 26-29 November 2018, Madrid (ES). Invited presentation: “The open source soundscapes approach to everyday quiet areas. Criteria and recommendations for policy planning“.
International Congress 176th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 5-9 November 2018, Victoria (CA). Invited presentation: “Soundscape Evaluation of Urban Social Spaces. A Comparative Study: Berlin-Granada“.
International Festival Healing Places, 31 August-2 September 2018, Rotterdam (NL). Invited presentation: “Everyday quiet areas are vital to our health“.
International Congress Inter-noise 2018, 26-29 August2018, Chicago (USA). Invited presentation: “Everyday quiet areas. What they mean and how they can be integrated in city planning processes“.
International Congress Inter-noise 2018, 26-29 August 2018, Chicago (USA). Invited presentation: “From crowdsourced data to open source planning. The implementation of the Hush City app in Berlin“.
International Congress Global Health Conference, French Embassy, 29 June 2018, Berlin (DE). Invited presentation: “Considering health in urban planning“.
International Congress Euronoise 2018, 27-31 May 2018, Crete (EL). Invited presentation: “The use of mobile applications in soundscape research: open questions in standardization“.
International Congress 174th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 4-8 December 2017, New Orleans (USA). Invited presentation: “Quietness as a commons: Integrating soundscape in urban planning for the environmentally just city“.
International Congress Placemaking week, 12 October 2017, Amsterdam (NL). Invited presentation: “The soundscape approach to placemaking“.
Smart Mobility Summit, 3-4 May 2017, Lisbon (PT). Invited presentation: “Quietness, Smart Mobility and the Future City”.
International Congress 2015 UNESCO Historic Cities Heritage of Peace Program, 4-5 April 2015 Istanbul (TR). Invited presentation: “Firenze Sound Map. An Emotional Journey through Florentine Soundscapes“

Presentations at international conferences

International Conference Streets Ahead: Post-Pandemic Civic Spaces, September 9-10 2022, Dublin, Ireland and online. Presentation: ‘Reclaiming’ the street: Socio-economic sustainability in Business Improvement Districts in the post covid climate” (with Jieling Xiao and Lucas Hughes).
International Conference EURA 2022 European Urban Research Association, June 16-18 2022, Milan, Italy. Presentation: “Benefits and limits of leveraging citizen science mobile applications in urban planning”.
International Conference Shaping Light for Health and Wellbeing in Cities, December 16-17 2021, online. Presentation: “Planning artificial light at night for pedestrian visualdiversity in public spaces” (with Dietrich Henckel).
International conference The future of citizen science: sharing experiences from the European community, November 24-25 2021, online. Presentation: “The EU-Citizen.Science project” (with Silke Voigt-Heucke).
Italian Citizen Science Conference, November 11 2021, online. Presentation: “Hush City. Mappatura, analisi e pianificazione di aree di quiete”.
Italian Citizen Science Conference, November 11 2021, online. Presentation: “EU-Citizen.Science. La piattaforma europea di citizen science”.
International Conference Urban Planning and Architectural Design for Sustainable Development, September 14-16 2021, online. Presentation: “From the Neighbourhood Unit to the 15-Minute City. Past and Recent Urban Models for the Post-Covid Future” (with Francesco Alberti).
International Congress Uncommon Senses III: Back to the Future of the Senses, May 6-9, 2021, Montreal (CA), online. Presentation: “Recent advancements in the smellscape research in the build environment” (with Jieling Xiao).
International Conference in Citizen Science CisSci Helvetia 2021, 14-15 January 2021, online. Presentation: “The EU-Citizen.Science project”.
XII Giornata internazionale di Studi INU/12° International INU Study Day “Benessere e/o salute? 90 anni di studi, politiche, piani / Welfare and/or Health? 90 Years of studies, policies and plans”, 18 December 2020 [via Zoom]. Presentation: “Passeggiate partecipate e tecnologia mobile citizen science. L’esperienza del processo partecipativo per la redazione del piano delle aree quiete di Berlino 2019-2023” (“Participatory Walks and citizen science mobile technology. The experience of the participatory campaign for the Berlin Plan of Quiet Areas2019-2023”).
International Congress Environmental Design Association Conference (EDRA50), 22-26 May 2019, New York City (USA). Presentation: “Is a noisy city sustainable?“.
International Congress AESOP 2018, 11-15 July 2018, Gothenburg (SE). Presentation: “Open source planning of urban quiet areas“.
International Congress Acoustics ‘17: 173rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the 8th Forum Acusticum, 26-29 June 2017, Boston (USA). Presentation: “Beyond the Noise: Open Source Soundscapes. A mixed methodology to analyse and plan small, quiet areas, applying the soundscape approach, the citizen science paradigm and open source technology“.
32nd Italian Congress of Geography, 7-10 June 2017, Rome (IT). Presentation: “Lightscapes and Soundscapes of the Urban Night. Berlin/Florence“.
International Conference on Sound, Urbanism and Sense of Place, 7-9 April 2017, São Miguel Island, Azores, (PT). Presentation: “The HUSH City app. A new mobile application to crowdsource and assess "everyday quiet areas" in cities“, Invisible Places.
The International Conference on Future Breakthroughs in Science and Society, 8-9 November 2016 Berlin, (DE). Presentation: “Breaking the Walls of Noise Pollution“, Falling Walls Young Innovator of the Year 2016.
XI Conference of the European Architectural Envisioning Association, 25-28 September 2013, Milan (IT). Presentation: “Emotional Geography & Soundscape Studies. Beyond the cognitive approach in (sound)mapping urban spaces”.
II International Congress on Ambiances, 19-22 September 2012, Montreal (CA). Presentation: “The Sonic Niche. A new design tool to enhance and create atmospheres through sounds in the contemporary city.