Senses and the City

“Experiencing with all the senses” – this seems to be the preferred motto for the up-to-date hedonist whose life is supposed to be a non-stop event. From our consumer society‘s point of view, the senses are “hip” –  there is almost no advertising slogan for life-style products or happenings which does not promise special intersensory sensations. In this context mainly tactile, olfactory and gustatory experiences play a prominent role: luxury goods like perfumes, cosmetics, champagne or wine and clothing are promoted through their ‘immediate’ impact on the psychophysical well-being; the same applies to places like hotels or even cities which try to attract visitors with their all-encompassing sensory reach that promise a holistic wellness experience.

In highlighting the importance of the ‘lower senses’, consumer culture is more advanced than philosophical epistemology. According to most perception theories, smell, taste and touch do not contribute to intellectual insight – most prominently, the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant determined a hierarchy of the senses in which taste and smell hold the lowest position.

Despite this ignorance, tactile, olfactory and gustatory experiences are the most intense and informative when one seeks to relate such diffuse phenomena as the atmosphere of a city or a district. The Romanian philosopher Mădălina Diaconu from the University of Vienna has worked for several years on an alternative approach to experiencing our everyday environment. In a case study she investigated the meaning of tactile and olfactory experience in the city of Vienna. With students she developed “smellscapes” of some Viennese quarters, analyzed the tactile qualities of house walls and pavements as well as the impact of publicly placed furniture on the individual’s posture and comfort. These studies make very clear that experiencing a city is not limited to visual and acoustic sensations but inherently integrates tactile and olfactory perceptions. And, of course, this holistic intersensory experience is inseparably linked to strong emotional reactions (and actions).

The studies of Mădălina Diaconu* and some other researchers from different disciplines (like human geography, environmental studies or architecture – see, for example, Victoria Henshaw’s blog “Smell and the City” at Manchester University) show that urban design has to consider much more than merely visual and acoustic aspects when planning buildings, places, quarters or other urban environments. Although the atmosphere of an urban region consists of many unpredictable aspects like social interactions and individual psychological dispositions, there are elements that can be planned: thus, taking intersensory experience seriously means integrating touch, smell and even taste in urban design processes which might strengthen the positive effects on the individually and socially experienced atmosphere of a city.

* Mădălina Diaconu’s publications concerning her project on the Sensescapes of Vienna:

• Mădălina Diaconu, Eva Heuberger, Ruth Mateus-Berr, Lukas Marcel Vosicky (eds.): Senses and the City. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Urban Sensescapes, Berlin: LIT 2011.

In German:

• Mădălina Diaconu: Sinnesraum Stadt. Eine multisensorische Anthropologie, Berlin: LIT 2012.
• Mădălina Diaconu, Gerhard Buchbauer, James G. Skone, Karl-Georg Bernhardt, Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer (eds.): Sensorisches Labor Wien. Urbane Haptik- und Geruchsforschung. Berlin: LIT 2011.

Bubbling Pablum or Commingling Snails

As much as scholarly and artistic pursuits are part and parcel of this blog, so are the perception and experience of the everyday. Convergences and intersections inform how we process life, body, mind, other, how we reflect, wonder, create. How better to remind ourselves than by asking seemingly benign questions? The following are random excerpts from Padgett Powell’s inquisitive The Interrogative Mood (2009), providing a list of questions to guide our chance encounters of different kinds.

“Have our lips ever done what we want them to? Are there interstices in your character? Can you imagine certain smells – say, the smell of cedar? If you saw on a T-shirt the slogan BLOOD IS LIKE A PARACHUTE, what would you think that slogan intends to mean? Would you prefer to expire on a fair day or foul, or do you think you’ll be past appreciating and lamenting the weather by that point? Would you like, right now, some cornbread? Have you ever pinned butterflies? Do you wonder if there is, say, vanilla Coke and cherry Coke, and if the global market is the thing, why there is not, say, nutmeg Coke and cumin Coke and anise Coke and garlic Coke and sauerbraten Coke and horseradish Coke and chili Coke and coconut Coke and lemongrass Coke? Do you like it when your body is sore? Would you drink something called a ‘plumber’s concoction’? Do you understand the physics of chocolate? Would you like to eat soft-serve ice cream beside a municipal pond colored that fetid green from goose shit and paddled upon by uncivil ducks? Is your mind bubbling pablum or snails commingling? What is your favorite spice?”

[Insert your questions here]