Sensory chartography:urban smellscapes

Mădălina Diaconu(University of Vienna)

„Haptic and Olfactory Design.

Resources for Vienna’s Creative Industries”(2007–2010)

• a co-operation between:- Institute of Philosophy (University of Vienna)- Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Diagnostics (University

of Vienna)- Institute of Botany (University for Natural Resources and Life

Sciences Vienna)- University of Applied Arts Vienna - ZOOM-Children Museum Vienna

•  funded by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF)

1. Methods: How to use your nose to discover a city

• Mental smell maps: The subjects are asked to draw a map of the city and to locate on it smells which occur to them spontaneously, using symbols or colours to be explained in a legend. Further parameters (how to draw the map, which symbols to use and how to describe odours) are deliberately left open.

 • Monitoring smell maps: The subjects select an area to be

explored at least once a month. They download its map from the website of the municipality and record on it whatever odours they encounter during their walks, using freely chosen symbols and explaining them in a legend. It is important to note the date and the weather conditions. Alternative: keep a diary of the smells for a particular area.

2. Results of previous research: Sniffing Vienna

Mental maps

Participants: 56 students

Average age: 26

Gender: 42f /14m

Urban/rural: 28 „Viennese“ (born in Vienna oder living in Vienna at least for the last 7 years ), 28 „Non-Viennese“

Date: March 2007, March 2008

Graphics: Kristina Schinegger (Technical University Vienna)

82%75%

63% 59%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Nature Edible Exhaust fumesIndustry

Organic waste

Spatial categories in visualising smellscapes

• Paths/tracks: channels along which odours circulate (e.g. water course, streets)

• Point-like sources of discrete smells (e.g. pedestrians)• Focuses: strategic points of a city (e.g. the railway

station)• Emblems: specific monuments (St. Stephen Cathedral)• Areas.

Paths and tracks

Smell maps as narratives: olfactory “biographies”

Field of forces and crossing trails

One smellscape or plural smellscapes?

Monitoring smell maps

• Investigated area: Vienna, inner city• Participants: 12• Date: April-June 2007, 2008

• Graphics: Kristina Schinegger (Technical University, Vienna)

“The odours of fast-foods in the corridor can be savoured intensively only after entering the shop [...]. For the rest, with the exception of the florist’s and the newspaper kiosks, the shops’ characters cannot be perceived from outside, there are always strong ‘odour thresholds’.” (K.S.)

Graphics: Kristina Schinegger

Stephansplatz

“The smell of the inner city is a mixture mainly of horse urine, exhaust fumes, sweet smells and the odours of old walls and food.” (I.G.)

Forthcoming publications

• M. Diaconu, G. Buchbauer, J. Skone, K.-G. Bernhardt, E. Menasse (Eds.), Sensorisches Labor Wien. Urbane Haptik- und Geruchsforschung (Berlin, Vienna: Lit)

• M. Diaconu, E. Heuberger, R. Mateus-Berr, L. M. Vosicky (Eds.), Senses and the City. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Urban Sensescapes (Berlin, Vienna: Lit)

3. Bucharest, a fabric of aromas

„Let’s view, no, let’s sniff Bucharest. [...]

Were it a broth, it would be, say, a stew, a well blended mixture of cheap cologne and a handful of freshly spaded soil, a pinch of incense and copious litres of kerosene, gasoline and diesel oil, dry dung, thirsty sand and lime, hot exhaust fumes.”

(Magda Cârneci)

• Hărți desenate de participanții la workshop MethodologiesCitiesBucharest