How do the senses and the public space of the city shape one another? In light of growing scholarly interest in the historical specificities of sensorial experiences in various times and places, this session invites reflection on the ways in which the construction of public space is fundamentally bound up to people’s bodily engagement with the urban environment. Sensing, the action of our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin is an intimate and personal experience, through which we navigate the world we inhabit. At the same time, sensing is an eminently public phenomenon, the meaning associated with different sights, smells and sounds governed by social and cultural context. How these sensory experiences, privately felt but publically mediated, inform ideas and decisions about the construction, use and symbolism of urban public space is the underlying question this panel will explore. By doing so, it will also reevaluate the notion of urban public space. In light of the recent engagement of historians with sociologists and geographers – such as Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, Martina Löw or Yi-Fu Tuan – who stress the social construction of space, this session investigates the bodily and sensory practices involved in this process. Simply put, public space is the space in which one comes into physical contact with strangers. At the same time, starting with the ancient Greek agora, it is the birthplace of the public realm in a political sense. By examining the sensory dimension of urban public space, the session will put this connection between space, the body, the social, and the political into new perspective.

Specific topics to be examined might include:
- how are cities planned and designed in response to sensory stimuli, and in order to privilege certain sensorial experiences over others?
- who determines how shifting thresholds of tolerance for sensory stimuli affects the layout and organization of public space?
- how is the relationship between public space and the senses mediated by other lines of social demarcation including gender, class or ethnicity?
- who is excluded from or relegated to certain public spaces on the basis of sensorial norms? - how do distinctions between the private and public spaces of the city get blurred or transgressed through the senses?
- how is the function of public space as a political gathering place determined by its sensory organization?

While referencing the Greek agora implies a certain historical narrative about the rise (and fall) of European cities and their public spaces, the objective of this panel is to question, not reiterate, this premise. In keeping with the conference theme of “Cities in Europe, Cities in the World,” we therefore particularly welcome proposals that are global in scope or that approach these questions from a comparative or transnational perspective. In addition to a consideration of variations according to place, this panel seeks to examine how sensorial understandings of public space change through time. Accordingly, proposals addressing a variety of periods are welcome.

A paper proposal for presentation at the conference should be submitted in the form of an abstract only (not to exceed 300 words).

Deadline for paper proposals submission: October 15, 2013
Notification of paper acceptance: December 15, 2013

Important: Paper proposals and full texts can only by submitted online, via the EAUH2014 website. If sent by post or email will not be accepted.