Exploring The Art of Urban Design as Sensorial Experience

Contemporary urbanity is characterised by factors such as a large scale, hypermobility and momentary temporality. In terms of the physical spaces that these factors generate and the presence of users in them, this translates to spaces that challenge the ability to perceive and participate due to their size, speed and flux. Relating to aesthetics as perception, the art of urban design in contemporary urbanity then seems to lie in accessing the ability to experience in a setting that makes it difficult to do so. This paper will explore the potential for aesthetic (sensorial) experience as the art of urban design, and look for that potential in the constituent elements and subsequent spaces of contemporary urbanity from the perspective of both the user and the practitioner.