Experiential Walks for Urban Design: Revealing, Representing, and Activating the Sensory Environment

by Barbara E a Piga (Editor), Daniel Siret (Editor), Jean-Paul Thibaud (Editor)

The edited volume explores the topic of experiential walks, which is the practice of multi- or mono-sensory and in-motion immersion into an urban or natural environment. The act of walking is hence intended as a process of (re-)discovering, reflecting and learning through an embodied experience. Specific attention is devoted to the investigation of the ambiance of places and its dynamic atmospheric perception that contribute to generating the social experience. This topic is gaining increasing attention and has been studied in several forms in different disciplines to investigate the particular spatial, social, sensory and atmospheric character of places. The book contains chapters by experts in the field and covers both the theory and the practice of innovative methods, techniques, and technologies. It examines experiential walks in the perspective of an interdisciplinary approach to environmental and sensory urban design by organising the contributions according to three specific interrelated focuses, namely the exploration and investigation of the multisensory dimension of public spaces, the different ways to grasp and communicate the in-motion experience through traditional and novel forms of representation, and the application of the approach to urban participatory planning and higher education. Shedding new light on the topic, the book offers both a reference guide for those engaged in applied research, and a toolkit for professionals and students.

347 pages, Hardcover

Published August 6, 2021

Reviews

[Charlie Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapter: 'Way-Tales: An Archaeological Topophonics for Emerging Tourist Spaces' pp.323-332
describes an innovative methodology for data collection in urban space using walking and audio recording with local citizens. Develops an analytical process from the data which can be reused in travel writing for place branding and for building resources for ethnographic museums and archives, ethnopôles. Draws on theories of writing and identity from Foucault and from Deleuze & Guattari.