Conference Programme

Sensory Cities

New Methods and Approaches for Research, Planning, Design and Curation

24 March 2017

The Wash Houses, Aldgate E1

This international conference aims at bringing together academics and urban professionals, from museum curators to architects and urban planners, to discuss how to research, create and represent sensory experiences of urban environments. It is the part of the AHRC funded research network “Sensory Cities: researching, representing and curating sensory-emotional landscapes of urban environments” (2015-2017). As cities are not only driving economic forces in Europe but crucial entities for providing a sense of place in a globalising world, it is important to examine the role of the senses in place-making and attachments. Drawing on the experience of three cities that are exemplar for different forms of urban regeneration, London, Cologne and Barcelona, a range of cross-disciplinary, cross-European and cross-professional panels will discuss: What can academics and urban professionals interested in the senses learn from each other’s’ methodological approaches? How can sensory methods help museums to discuss a city’s past, present and future? How can the senses inform urban design in an ethical way? What structures can enable a participatory approach? In the evening we will launch the first sensory digital toolkit developed through the discussions and experimental methods trialed across three cities to research the sensory geography of place.

Convenors: Dr Monica Degen and Dr Astrid Swenson, Brunel University London