How smells enter our experience of the city

As central gathering points for people, products, activities, vehicles and things, cities have famously delivered stimulation to all of our varied senses. Be it the background hum or fore-grounded noise of traffic, the bright lights of promotional hoardings, the feel of the cobbles, concrete or tarmac underfoot, the city incites many forms of physiological and psychological arousal in us all, from delight to disgust, fascination to disregard, happiness to annoyance.

This blog has been developed with a specific focus upon relationships between smell and the city and follows the hosting of an inter-disciplinary workshop on this subject at the University of Manchester on March 19, 2012. The session was attended by 40 participants from across the UK and including academics and students from a wide range of disciplines and institutions, urban designers from the public sector, business people, institutions, artists and cartographers. The…