by Victoria Henshaw
Co-authored with Adams, M. & Cox, T.J. Presented at the University of Westminster PhD Colloquium 'Understanding Places' on the 6th June 2009
Contemporary professional built environmental practices are dominated by considerations of the visual and auditory... more
Contemporary professional built environmental practices are dominated by considerations of the visual and auditory with little direct thought being given to the role and experiencing of the olfactory in the regeneration and re-development of urban environments. The human body is however a fully sensing organism and draws from olfactory clues in the experiencing and cognitive processing of towns and cities and the streets, squares and spaces within them.
In recent years, sensewalking has developed as a qualitative method of exploring aspects of the physical and/or cognitive experience of being within a particular, often urban, environment. The method, which can be located within feminist and ecological epistemologies, thus offers a potentially useful means of investigating and analysing the everyday urban olfactory experience of place.
Drawing from the experience of carrying out a series of olfactory walks with research participants in the town centre of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, this paper explores the use of sensewalking as a method for investigating the olfactory environment of towns and cities and argues that sensewalking provides a valuable means of understanding the olfactory contribution to place, providing valuable insights into the physical and social environment. Of relevance to research involving the bodily experiencing of place, and of interest to researchers and town and city managers alike, the authors will offer insights into epistemological and practical issues that are likely to be experienced as part of the journey.
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