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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)
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Sensorychartography: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)
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.
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)
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