Nicola Di Croce is an architect, researcher, sound artist. A PhD Candidate in territorial planning and public policy he is currently doing post-Doctoral research at the Università Iuav di Venezia. His main field of investigation focuses on the relationship between urban studies and sound scapes. He is particularly interested in the collaborative and participatory approaches to analysis and planning of urban policies through the emerging methodology of sound and relational art, in urban planning and sociology. Sound is central to his artistic and academic research, and the practice of critical listening to the urban sound environment is the main vector he uses for understanding the emergence of urban questions tied to vulnerable contexts and actors. Noise and listening represent as such the chosen tools for investigating critical questions which are related to spatial and cultural transformations of the city, such as depopulation, segregation, the disappearnce of local identity and intangible cultural heritage. Through articles, lessons, environmental recordings, performances, installations, soundwalks and listening sessions his practices aim to bring to maturity a listening mindfulness and therefore the empowerment - of communities and institutions, and hence inaugurate new pathways towards local development and urban regeneration.