Városi szagtérképek
Mapping Urban Smellscapes

Summary/Abstract: “Smell maps” and commented “smell tours” through Vienna provide the basis for an analysis of the olfactory space. The paper argues that olfaction may become a privileged experience of space, in which the tendency to objectification (by “translating” stimuli into objects) reaches its limits and the subject opens itself for an unmediated encounter with space as a whole. From the perspective of the lived experience, (olfactory) space converts itself from a physical container and a relatively stable order of juxtaposed objects into a medium of life, a qualitative atmosphere, and an intertwinement of forces. Smellscapes are thus shifting patterns that are criss-crossed by trails and have volume, intensity and impact. Also the unavoidable exposure to smells implies a common responsibility in shaping the environment. The ideal of an odourless city is not only utopian, but would also bring about an impoverishment of our sensory experience. On this background, the paradoxical task of mapping smellscapes aims to sensitise the urbanites for the non-visual qualities of the public space and to develop their aptitude to describe odours.

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