Soundscapes of Warning

For almost a century, “Viktigt Meddelande till Allmänheten” (VMA, “Important Public Announcement''), has been the system used in Sweden to alert civilians in case of air-raids, major accidents, or disruptions of important services. First launched in 1931, VMA has constituted a soundtrack of urban modernity through broadcast messages and the installation and testing of outdoor sirens. The aim of this project is to trace the intellectual, political, material and cultural development of VMA in order to make a substantial and historically informed research contribution to facilitate a clear articulation and communication of policy in the area of sonic public warnings.

Over a 3-year period and in 5 sub projects, the project will chart, clarify, and analyse the historical conditions, the scientific knowledge production, the information tactics, the infrastructural affordances and the cultural experiences of VMA to evaluate their lingering echoes in today’s policy landscape. The project will also make explicit comparisons with other Nordic countries and in particular look to key historical and contemporary developments in Denmark to put the Swedish VMA in a much-needed international perspective. Departing from the concepts of soundscape (Schafer) and sociotechnical imaginary (Jasanoff & Kim), the multi-disciplinary project team will have a mixed method approach, with historical archival methods as well as interviews and text analyses of contemporary debate.