It is now established that in times of coronavirus, with humans segregated at home or in any case limited in their movements, nature is recovering its spaces. Videos and images of animals that pass quietly through urban centers, even large ones, are increasingly frequent, no longer sensing the threat of man. Even the "sounds" of our cities are changing: without gatherings and with fewer cars on the road, more often than not the soundtrack of our quarantine days have been accompanied by the singing of birds or other "non-humans", such as hedgehogs and frogs. The MUSE - Science Museum of Trento has decided to dedicate an exhibition (obviously online) to this curious and unprecedented phenomenon: "Sounds of life in the city" is a multimedia exploration to recognize the species of birds and other small animals that inhabit cities and countryside of Trentino and more generally of Northern Italy. "We talk about urban biodiversity and the importance of keeping the small corners of nature close to home intact", explains the note from the museum designed by Renzo Piano.
The exhibition consists of an interactive map that identifies five environments on the edge of the city, over 50 animal species (to name a few: from the collared dove to the European hedgehog, from the house martin to the green lizard), drawn, soundtracked and narrated, and a platform that collects photos and information on the inhabitants of the neighborhood of the house. “It is about species – he explains Osvaldo Negra, biologist of the Vertebrate Zoology Section of MUSE, who supervised the production of this multimedia, created together with Giga Design Studio – on a "human scale", which they managed, sometimes in very distant times, sometimes in the last decades , to find an ecological niche in an urban context. Some of them live next to us, animating the spaces in which we spend our daily lives. Knowing them "by name and by song" is a way to give value to urban biodiversity and put ourselves in a position to defend it as a value for the quality and liveability of our cities. This interactive guide is dedicated to this new awareness of an ancient closeness”. Finally, on the home of the project, it is possible to download the Guide to urban biodiversity in Trentino Alto-Adige, curated by MUSE, WWF and the Natural Science Society of Trentino.
