Intensifying the Atmospheric: A Post-Phenomenological Reappraisal of the Ambiance of Urban Space

Lasse Suonperä Liebst

Intensifying the Atmospheric: A Post-Phenomenological Reappraisal of the Ambiance of Urban Space

Bidragets oversatte titel: At intensivere det atmosfæriske: En post-fænomenologisk revurdering af storbyens rumlige atmosfærer

Lasse Suonperä Liebst

Sociologisk Institut

Abstract

The phenomenological concept of urban atmospheres is more often applied as an aesthetic description of the metropolitan space as such. This conceptualization is supported in this paper; however, I strive to give the concept a post-phenomenological axial turn. While phenomenology, due to its understanding of atmospheres as aesthetically ‘radiating’ from the surfaces of space, thinks physiognomically, the article argues for a spatial morphological perspective on atmospheres. Thus, post-phenomeno¬logically, it is argued that the atmospheric given is given by the density of pedestrians, which are ‘compressed’ by the spatial morphologies of urban space. In this perspective atmospheres are to be understood as an emergent property that develops when the spatial morphological compression of urban life passes a certain threshold, that is, when the affective rhythm of the urban assemblages becomes sufficiently intense. All things considered, the paper should be read as a sociological contribution to theoretically reconstruct the concept of urban atmospheres in the light of spatial morphology.

Bidragets oversatte titel	At intensivere det atmosfæriske: En post-fænomenologisk revurdering af storbyens rumlige atmosfærer
Originalsprog	Engelsk
Titel	Proceedings of the 8th International Space Syntax Symposium
Publikationsdato	jan. 2012
Status	Udgivet - jan. 2012

Citationsformater

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