Low rates leasing quick!, or, notice of pending occupancy

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Recorded during the late summer months in a suburban town outside of Phoenix, AZ, a group of mostly migrant workers from Central and South American continue construction on a large-scale luxury apartment complex on a Saturday afternoon.
Standing on the adjacent lot, I observe numerous workers precariously standing atop a standing structure as they frame lumber underneath and around them while others move construction materials across the site. High pitched beeping sounds repeat that signal a truck is moving in reverse while a light breeze cuts the impact of the scorching desert heat when the temperature is at its highest in the day.
I am further struck by the preparation of these structures, upscale rental units designed for “modern living” that will ultimately profit from numerous migrants to the Phoenix metro area, an area that has been subject to soaring housing costs amidst a ravaging water crisis. There simply are not enough resources to sustain the population, and yet, local municipalities rely on the influx of residents to sustain their current population.
As part of a larger body of work that contends with the layered effects of land displacement, natural habitat destruction, and the contours of late capitalism, this recording also illuminates the ways uneven power dynamics remain present in the settlement, migration, and displacement of low/no income residents (including the nonhuman inhabitants) who no longer have access to the land upon which they made their homes. While there is joy in the cancion of the man singing while working, the broader context of the aural experience marks a shift in the audible landscape, where a once culturally diverse soundscape becomes enveloped by the homogenized silencing of opulence that has become a signature of wealthier residencies.
Recorded by Alejandro T. Acierto.
Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration.
For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration