Urban Sensorium: 5 Cities, 5 Senses, 5 Maps

This project explored the future of the built environment in cities through the lens of sensory experience. Using sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste, Urban Sensorium anticipated potential energy, ecology, climate, transit, and food scenarios for five major cities chosen for their projected economic growth and international influence. To develop the scenarios, the team gathered indicators from SWA’s current design and planning projects and colleagues based in each city, conducted fieldwork, and identified the major drivers of change to gain insight into what future scenarios might look like in these five cities.  Insights included New York getting brighter, Houston more fragrant, San Francisco drier, Los Angeles quieter, and Shanghai spicier, the implications of which were drawn in a type of citywide “future mapping.”  The project was funded by the Patrick T. Curran Fellowship at SWA with support from SPUR Urban Center and Urbanspace Gallery.