Lancaster, CA made headlines around the world when its new city soundscape design reduced crime rates.
Development
When Lancaster Mayor R Rex Parris read about The Sound Agency, he saw an opportunity to improve wellbeing by installing a relaxing soundscape design along Lancaster’s half mile BLVD, a tree-lined avenue flanked with characterful shops.
We designed a relaxing, biophilic soundscape to be played via more than 70 weatherproof loudspeakers for several hours each day. Its tempo was set at half the speed of the typical human heartbeat to entrain people down to a slower pace of movement.
Outcomes
Shopkeepers loved the atmosphere that the soundscape design created outdoors – so much so that many requested to have it inside their stores too.
The city’s Sheriff reported that crime rates fell 15% after the soundscape design was installed. Media interest was intense, including the front page of the Wall Street Journal, as well as other international press and TV.