Space, art and squatting

Sensory environments constructing urban spaces

Abstract

Urban experiences are partly based on individual and shared memories and sensed environment. The experience of the environment can be understood as an interpersonal activity that builds and sustains the cohesion of individuals, thus shaping the social relations of the community. The article examines various types of artistic and political interventions in urban space, in particular how urban relationships are constructed in a dialogue between two people. The research concentrates on the formation of a transgenerational urban space in conjunction with walking and conversations, and how the research material thus obtained can be contextualised into culture-historical research and other contextual information of the city.

Theoretically and methodologically article relies on the concept of sensory commons and the sensobiographic walking method for exploring environmental experiences. The article is part of [anonymised] project researching sensed, experienced and remembered environments. One can come to the conclusion that the environments perceived, remembered and discussed together build a discursive and layered urban space that appears in the study more than the sum of its parts. In addition, their later mental and virtual representations constructed individually and together, maintain and shape the urban relationships thus continuing the negotiation of city policies on culture and symbolic ownership.