Plaza Cascorro during lockdown

El Rastro de Madrid or simply el Rastro is the most popular open air flea market in Madrid. It is held every Sunday and public holiday during the year and is located along Plaza de Cascorro and Ribera de Curtidores, between Calle Embajadores and the Ronda de Toledo. Here it is silent during lockdown, transformed. Lockdown sounds features as part of the Well-Being Cities project as evidence of how the sounds of our cities were one of the positive changes that came about during the Covid-19 lockdowns, with lower noise levels and an increased ability to hear the sounds of nature and other personally and culturally nourishing soundscapes.

Recorded by Javier Acosta.

Part of the Well-Being Cities project, a unique collaboration between Cities and Memory and C40, a global network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. The project was originally presented at the C40 Cities conference in Buenos Aires in 2022. Explore Well-Being Cities in full at https://citiesandmemory.com/wellbeing-cities/