Policy and aesthetics of noise: Sound violence and silencing in urban public spaces in Brazil / Política y estética del ruido: violencia sonora y silenciamiento en los espacios públicos urbanos en Brasil / Política e estética do ruído: Violencia sonora e silenciamento nos espacos públicos urbanos no Brasil

This research is a reflection on the relationship between sound violence and the use of public spaces in Brazilian urban centers, understanding the relationship between sounds and silence as from social and political disputes to control the sound spaces. The sound insulation and increased decibels rates suggest a privatization process of public spaces in order to avoid the loud noise of the streets. It identifies the loss of places of free speech and political debate, ravished by the noise and insulating silencing. Methodologically sound ethnography was used along with analysis of the laws that manage the urban sound space by walking through the streets and squares with previously defined paths. The findings demonstrate sound spaces as areas of political and social struggle, places silenced both by violence and by sound violence.