Symposium: The Skin of the City

Urban Tactile Design

A symposium within the frame of the research project “Haptic and Olfactory Design. Resources for Vienna’s Creative Industries

Freitag, 30. Mai 2008 - Samstag, 31. Mai 2008

The modern city has been mostly regarded as a visual space, its scenic buildings, window displays and light spectacle being contemplated by the flaneur as an uninvolved spectator. However, urban space is neither neutral nor empty, but an active environment which interacts with the residents immersed in it, (over)exposes them to multisensory stiimuli and is invested with meaning.

The skin hosts all ogans of the senses; nevertheless, the symposium will focus on spaces, practices and materials of the tactile, kinaesthetic and thermal design of public spaces and on their potential to increase the quality of life. The symposium is addressed to researchers and practitioners in the field of design, architecture, urban planning, anthropology, philosophy and social sciences.

The modern city has been mostly regarded as a visual space, its scenic buildings, window displays and light spectacle being contemplated by the flâneur as an uninvolved spectator. However, urban space is neither neutral nor empty, but an active environment which interacts with the residents immersed in it, (over)exposes them to multisensory stimuli and is invested with meaning.

The skin hosts all organs of the senses; nevertheless, the symposium will focus on spaces, practices and materials of the tactile, kinaesthetic and thermal design of public spaces and on their potential to increase the quality of life. The symposium is addressed to researchers and practitioners in the fields of design, architecture, urban planning, anthropology, philosophy and social sciences.

Friday, 30 May 2008

18.00 Gerald Bast, rector of the University of Applied Arts
18.15-19.30 David Howes, Montreal
Sensing the City: An Urban Archeology of Sensations

Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Oskar Kokoschka-Platz 2, 1010 Wien