SENSORY URBANISM
An Interdisciplinary Two Day Conference
Departments of Architecture / DMEM
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Tuesday 8th - Wednesday 9th January 2008
Conference Fee: £45 (full), £30 (speaker), £25 (student with proof of status)
CALL FOR PAPERS
NOW CLOSED
We invite scholars and practitioners to submit papers for the following two-day conference: SENSORY URBANISM, organised by the Multimodal Representation of Urban Space research group, a Design for the 21st Century initiative supported by the AHRC and EPSRC. Submitted papers will be reviewed by a committee comprising the research group and advisory board.
We are currently looking into possible channels for publication via a journal special issue, or will publish proceedings independently.
Representing space is not only a long-standing challenge to the arts but is also a major task in the planning process for buildings, cities, and many other products. This particularly applies to the "Urban Renaissance" of our days with its emphasis on public places.
Space – more than the surrounding objects or buildings – seems to demand to be represented not only visually, as it is not only determined by the visible surrounding objects, but also by sound and smell which are literally "in the air", and by an integrated multimodal body experience which is related to the space itself. Nevertheless, spaces, especially urban spaces in planning processes, are today usually only represented in a visual manner.
The major hypothesis of our project is that much better results for convenient and appealing urban spaces could be achieved if all sensory factors were acknowledged and controlled during the design process. There is no doubt about the multimodal quality of urban space – it always appeals to all senses. For example the most beautifully designed public square is destroyed if a noisy and odorous motorway is nearby, and not much would be left of the special atmosphere of the Piazza della Fontana di Trevi in Rome if the sound and coolness deriving from the running water was missing. All these factors are usually poorly represented (if considered at all) during the design process, but such an appropriate representation could help create better public spaces.
How might such an appropriate representation of the multimodal qualities of urban space be achieved during the design process? Depending on this general question several sub-questions emerge: How can space be represented in general? What means of representing space have already been developed? What kind of design control could be achieved if the multimodal qualities of spaces were also included into the design process? What kind of creativity might be evoked by using methods of multimodal space representation? What affordable and practical technologies might be used in common design processes for spaces?
Papers are encouraged from a range of disciplines including:
• Anthropology
• Architectural Design
• Architectural History & Theory
• Environmental Psychology
• Fine Art
• Geography
• Philosophy
• Product Design
• Sound Design
• Urban Design
Papers should address one or more of the following themes:
REPRESENTATION
• Representation of Urban Spaces
• Representation of the Senses
• Representation of Experience
DESIGN AND PROCESS
• Designing for / with Alternative Sensory Experiences
• Multimodality and Presence
• Inscriptive Practices, Notation and Drawing
SENSES OF PLACE
• Cultural Experience of Place
• Sensory Experience of Place
• Narratives of Place
Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, and accompanied by a brief biography of the author(s). Abstracts should be sent by e-mail to Raymond Lucas no later than Friday 16th November 2007.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Raymond Lucas
Room G28
Architecture Building
131 Rottenrow
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow
G4 0NG
tel: (0044)141 548 3997
