Atmospheric City

<p><em>The Atmospheric City</em> explores how people make sense of the feelings they get in and of urban spaces. Based on ethnographic fieldwork of everyday life in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm, it focuses on the atmospheric power of people, places, and phenomena.</p><p>While the predominant focus of current urban planning tends to rest on economic growth, sustainability, or offering housing, transport, and activities to an increasing number of city residents, this book offers a different take, based on recent discussions in the social sciences about how cities <i>feel</i>. It calls attention to the mundane ways in which urban dwellers adapt and adopt their surroundings. It argues that atmospheric cities are characterised by a fundamental porosity that affects how people relate to places. This highlights why some places are sought after while others are avoided. Through concrete examples of people being in and moving through the city, the book shows how people attune and are attuned by designed urban spaces, often at the margins of attention, when they find comfort in the familiar and seek out the unexpected.</p><p>This book is aimed at researchers, postgraduates, and practitioners interested in urban design and how people make sense of the feelings it evokes. It will be of interest to those in the fields of urban studies, urban design, planning, architecture urban geography, cultural geography, cultural studies and anthropology.</p> <p>Preface</p><p>Acknowledgements</p><p>List of Figures</p><ol> <p> </p> <li>Introduction </li> <p>Towards a porous way of thinking </p> <p>The life-oriented city</p> <p>Atmospheric spaces</p> <p>Attuning to atmospheres</p> <p>Exploring the atmospheric city </p> <p>Outline of the book</p> <b> </b><p> </p> <li>Attuned relations: The sociality of atmospheres</li> <p>Chasing resonance</p> <p>Solitude in the atmospheric city</p> <p>Being alone together</p> <p>Dissonant encounters</p> <p>Quiet and loud: Crowds and atmospheres</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <b> </b><p> </p> <li>Embraced by the city: Feeling the urban environment</li> <p>Atmospheric design</p> <p>Feeling the atmospheres of urban design</p> <p>The affective qualities of things</p> <p>Environments of atmospheres past</p> <p>Weathering the atmospheric city</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <b> </b><p> </p> <li>Moving through atmospheres: Mobility and attunement</li> <p>Moved by design</p> <p>Perceiving through movement</p> <p>Moving in practice</p> <p>Moving among others </p> <p>Conclusion</p> <b> </b> <p> </p> <li>Cities of care: Nurturing atmospheres</li> <p>Care in the atmospheric city</p> <p>Building care</p> <p>Atmospheres of care</p> <p>Zones of comfort</p> <p>Knowing the city, feeling for the city</p> <p>Caring for plurality</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <b> </b><p> </p> <li>The future of the atmospheric city </li> </ol><p>Bibliography</p>