Charlie White

I am a registered Architect, Studio Tutor, and PhD researcher at the Manchester School of Architecture. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, my doctoral thesis is titled Right to Noise: Sound Governance and Spatial Exclusion in the Nocturnal City. The research examines how cities govern sound and the politics of noise regulation in the nocturnal city. Focusing on the conflict between club culture and residential development, the research argues that noise regulation operates as a mechanism of spatial exclusion. Extending Lefebvre’s Right to the City, the thesis proposes a Right to Noise, arguing for a shift from policies of suppression toward governance models that enshrine tolerance of sound as fundamental to urban life. As part of my research, I collaborate with advocacy organisations including the Berlin Clubcommission, and engage with municipal night councils and club communities across Europe, in Berlin, Manchester, Tbilisi, Vienna, Cologne, Geneva, and Copenhagen. At MSA, I also work as a Research Assistant on a number of projects, recently compiling and producing a research report for the AHRC-funded ‘Housing Standardisation’ project in collaboration with the Royal College of Art. I have also designed and co-edited a number of university publications, including the yearly Journal of Architectural Humanities.

Academic and Professional Qualifications

Qualifications

PhD (in progress), Manchester School of Architecture, Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship

PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Manchester School of Architecture

RIBA Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice (Part III)

MPhil Architecture and Urban Design, University of Cambridge

BA (Hons) Architecture, Manchester School of Architecture

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Architect (ARB), Architects Registration Board

Research Output

Conferences

International Conference on Night Studies, October 2026 (invited paper)

AMPS Livable Cities Conference, June 2026 (paper)

DC26, Charles University, Prague, May 2026 (paper)

Leverhulme LUDeC Showcase, September 2025 (panel talk)

Grand Conseil de la Nuit, Geneva, 11th April 2025 (paper, panel chair)

Vienna After Dark Conference, 14th November 2024 (paper, panel chair)

Publications

Journal of Architectural Humanities Vol. II, Manchester School of Architecture, 2026 (co-editor, lead graphic designer)

Housing Standardisation in North East, Farrell Centre, 2026 (research assistant, lead graphic designer)

Non-Standard Habitats Catalogue, Manchester School of Architecture, 2026 (editor, lead graphic designer)

Journal of Architectural Humanities Vol. I, Manchester School of Architecture, 2025 (co-editor, lead graphic designer)

LUDeC Connections

Cities are governed on the assumption that their proper condition is quiet, yet for certain cultures, to produce sound in the city is to exist within it. At its root, noise conflict is a contest over cultural recognition and urban belonging: complaint-led regulation embeds a right to quiet but offers no corresponding protection for sound-making cultural practices. Operating at night, clubs employ loud amplified sound as a medium of collective experience, yet this very condition places them in direct conflict with adjacent residents. Noise complaints translate subjective experiences of disturbance into enforceable regulatory action, rendering venues structurally vulnerable to restriction and closure.

The research draws on close collaboration with venues and advocacy groups in Manchester and Berlin, the two cities where the tension between residential development and nightlife is most acute in the context of this work. It combines documentary analysis of planning, licensing and noise enforcement records with nocturnal field observation, engaging with the material and subjective dimensions of sound that regulatory frameworks routinely obscure. What emerges is that noise disputes exceed the technical limits of soundproofing: nocturnal sound is a complex physical and affective phenomenon, and the experience of disturbance bears no simple relationship to loudness.

Extending Lefebvre’s Right to the City, the thesis develops the notion of a Right to Noise in the nocturnal city. If venues cannot exist without producing some level of disturbance, then a Right to Noise is a right for sound-making cultures to exist. The research argues for a shift from policies of suppression and exclusion toward governance models that enshrine tolerance of sound as fundamental to urban life.

Contact Information

charlie.white@mmu.ac.uk