The Emotional and Chromatic Layers of Urban Smells

People are able to detect up to 1 trillion odors. Yet, city planning is concerned only with a few bad odors, mainly because odors are currently captured only through complaints made by urban dwellers. To capture both good and bad odors, we resort to a methodology that has been recently proposed and relies on tagging information of geo-referenced pictures. In doing so for the cities of London and Barcelona, this work makes three new contributions. We study 1) how the urban smellscape changes in time and space; 2) which emotions people share at places with specific smells; and 3) what is the color of a smell, if it exists. Without social media data, insights about those three aspects have been difficult to produce in the past, further delaying the creation of urban restorative experiences.Comment: 11 pages, 18 figures, final version published in the Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2016

ODOR POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN RESIDENTIAL URBAN SPACES IN TRIPOLI CITY

The odor pollution is a real problem that could threat a city and influence negatively the health of people. The odor is formed from invincible substances and several previous researches in both fields of chemical and meteorological specialization have created visualization maps for odor as an intending to locate the odor source, substances, and affected areas. This research aims to benefit from previous studies in the architectural field in providing a visualization for the odor in the city especially in the residential areas. The objective of the research is to create an assessment of the odor sources and affected residential areas in three different settings in Tripoli city, as a smellscape with considering one environmental factor that is the wind as an influencing element in the dispersion of odor in the city. The study depends on ArcGIS map to set the odor different location sources, and the affected residential areas by these sources in Tripoli city. The study of wind is conducted based on the GFS model (Global Forecast System) to find out the changed wind direction and speed between 21st to 31st of May in Tripoli city. The data collected is visualized as first in pivot tables for each wind speed category, these tables help to find out the role of wind in the dispersion of odor in each of the selected residential areas. The results show that visualizing the data in pivot tables helps in conducting the influence of wind in spreading the odor in the selected residential areas in Tripoli city. The outcome of this study is to benefit from the wind study to define one of the factors that influence the odor dispersion in each of the selected areas and according to the different odor sources that help in assessing the odor pollution in each area

Building a Multilingual Taxonomy of Olfactory Terms with Timestamps

Olfactory references play a crucial role in our memory and, more generally, in our experiences, since researchers have shown that smell is the sense that is most directly connected with emotions. Nevertheless, only few works in NLP have tried to capture this sensory dimension from a computational perspective. One of the main challenges is the lack of a systematic and consistent taxonomy of olfactory information, where concepts are organised also in a multi-lingual perspective. WordNet represents a valuable starting point in this direction, which can be semi-automatically extended taking advantage of Google n-grams and of existing language models. In this work we describe the process that has led to the semi-automatic development of a taxonomy for olfactory information in four languages (English, French, German and Italian), detailing the different steps and the intermediate evaluations. Along with being multi-lingual, the taxonomy also encloses temporal marks for olfactory terms thus making it a valuable resource for historical content analysis. The resource has been released and is freely available

Skin Stories: Charting and Mapping the Skin. Research using analogies of human skin tissue in relation to my textile practice.

The practice based research SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN deals with issues across the fields of art, design, technology, biology and material science. In an attempt to bridge the gap between aesthetics and technology by investigating the potential of new and industrial materials, the epidermis is used as a metaphor for creating innovative textile surfaces which behave, look or feel like skin. As a result of theoretical enquiry and practical experiments, interactive design solutions have been developed to a prototype stage for possible application in domestic environments and public spaces as well as for integration into body related design concepts. The development of such functional and interactive textile membranes will hopefully enable individuals to experience a polysensual and responsive environment and it is this aspect which is considered to be an original contribution to knowledge in the textiles field. The aim of this written thesis is not only to illustrate the journeys and investigations made along the way and to demonstrate the outcome of the research, but also to situate the practical work in its cultural, critical and technological context. This thesis is accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM which is a visual representation of my 'research map' and holds a record of the practical work carried out during the research project. The ideas of the project SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN have been developed and tested during a 3-year research programme towards a Ph. D. at The London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

Staging atmosphere – en installation. Studien om färg, doft och deras korsmodala relationer, som faktorer i skapandet av arkitektonisk atmosfär

The digital revolution has made the human work and live in an increasingly visually stimulated world. However, its counteract seems to suggest a growing demand for experiences with implications of all the senses. This study indicates for the future direction in architecture and spatial design to be sensorially aware spaces. The sense modality of olfaction seems particularly to have an upswing in the way it is being noticed in the process of creating space. Movements such as Crossmodalism further confirm the desire for sensory input and alternative experiences. Understanding sensoriality, particularly cross-modal relations, can thus be seen as essential tools for the interior architect to work with in today’s society. This thesis presents a study on colour, odour and their cross-modal relation as atmospheric factors in the context of new aesthetics. The thesis will provide alternative ways on how to use colour and odour in a spatial context with a deeper connection to our emotions, sensorial bodies and most profound memories. This exploration will be linked to the discourse of staging atmosphere as the spatial attributes of odour and colour, and their cross-modal relation may be considered as essential factors of architectural atmosphere. The thesis is divided into two parts; Part A, a literature overview and design research and Part B, a cross-modal study, design process and artistic production. Part A will illustrate the fore-sight of architectural atmosphere, the role of colour and odour in a spatial context and lastly the cross-modal correspondences as atmospheric factors. Part B continues to examine the topic in the format of a spatial art installation named “Staging Atmosphere”, in which the thesis is explored on a conceptual level. Insights from the literature study are implemented and in a constant dialogue with the artistic project. Part B will also contain an additional cross-modal study to give further insights into the subject and guide the thesis’ artistic process.Den digitala revolutionen har orsakat en allt mer visuellt stimulerad värld. Däremot verkar dess motrörelse tyda på en växande efterfrågan av upplevelser som beaktar alla sinnen likvärdigt. Detta slutarbete indikerar att den framtida riktningen inom arkitektur och inredningsdesign är sensorisk medvetenhet. Samtidigt tyder det på att doft-sinnet skulle ha fått ett uppsving i skapande processen inom konst och arkitektur. Rörelser så som ”Crossmodalism” bekräftar ytterligare efterfrågan på sensoriska och alternativa upplevelser. Att förstå sinnlighet och särskilt de korsmodala relationerna kan således ses som viktiga verktyg för en inredningsarkitekt i dagens samhälle. I denna avhandling studeras färg, doft och deras korsmodala relationer som atmosfäriska faktorer. Avhandlingen kommer att erbjuda alternativa sätt att använda färg och doft i ett rumsligt sammanhang med en djupare koppling till känslor, sinnlighet och minnen. Denna forskning kommer ytterligare att kopplas till diskursen av arkitektonisk atmosfär och Gernot Böhmes tankar om ny estetik. Avhandlingen är uppdelad i två delar; Del A, en litteraturöversikt och designforskning och Del B, en korsmodal studie, designprocess och konstnärlig produktion. Del A kommer att diskutera begreppet arkitektonisk atmosfär, färgen och doftens roll i ett rumsligt sammanhang och slutligen de korsmodala relationerna som atmosfäriska faktorer. Del B fortsätter att undersöka ämnet i form av en konstinstallation. Insikter från litteraturstudien kommer att implementeras och vara i en ständig dialog med det konstnärliga projektet. Del B kommer också att innehålla en korsmodal studie för att ge ytterligare inblick i ämnet och således ge vägledning för avhandlingens konstnärliga produktion.Työ on ARTSin taiteen maistereiden opinnäytekokoelmass

Elsewhere: impressions of sense & nonsense

I’m not going to give it all away up front, but here are a few things you’ll find inside: a flower that tastes like peppermint, a book that smells like sunscreen, a silver orb that purrs, a woman becoming a tree, a shy rainbow, and a hat that is also a disguise. There are lists, letters, dreams, and notes. I hope there aren’t typos, but I’m only human, after all. There is sense, and there is also nonsense. If you decide to join me here, we will wander elsewhere — across different kinds of terrain, into sensory experiences, between mediums, and towards collective imagination. I will point out the ways we interact with these spaces & places: how we use our bodies to access them, our senses to interpret them, and our stories to give them meaning. I’ll talk about how much I like videogames, colors, forests, and friends. Occasionally, I’ll use big words, like “phenomenological,” to impress you. But you are smart, and I might not teach you anything new! I would like for you to think about this as the start of a journey. Did you bring everything you need? You have my permission to meander — drift in any order, direction, or logic that suits you — but I hope you won’t leave without considering the urgent work of thinking about and caring for our deep entanglement with a damaged world

Earth as Interface: Exploring chemical senses with Multisensory HCI Design for Environmental Health Communication

As environmental problems intensify, the chemical senses -that is smell and taste, are the most relevantsenses to evidence them.As such, environmental exposure vectors that can reach human beings comprise air,food, soil and water[1].Within this context, understanding the link between environmental exposures andhealth[2]is crucial to make informed choices, protect the environment and adapt to new environmentalconditions[3].Smell and taste lead therefore to multi-sensorial experiences which convey multi-layered information aboutlocal and global events[4]. However, these senses are usually absent when those problems are represented indigital systems. The multisensory HCIdesign framework investigateschemical sense inclusion withdigital systems[5]. Ongoing efforts tackledigitalization of smell and taste for digital delivery, transmission or substitution [6]. Despite experimentsproved technological feasibility, its dissemination depends on relevant applicationdevelopment[7].This thesis aims to fillthose gaps by demonstratinghow chemical senses provide the means to link environment and health based on scientific andgeolocation narratives [8], [9],[10]. We present a Multisensory HCI design process which accomplished symbolicdisplaying smell and taste and led us to a new multi-sensorial interaction system presented herein. We describe the conceptualization, design and evaluation of Earthsensum, an exploratory case study project.Earthsensumoffered to 16 participants in the study, environmental smell and taste experiences about real geolocations to participants of the study. These experiences were represented digitally using mobilevirtual reality (MVR) and mobile augmented reality (MAR). Its technologies bridge the real and digital Worlds through digital representations where we can reproduce the multi-sensorial experiences. Our study findings showed that the purposed interaction system is intuitive and can lead not only to a betterunderstanding of smell and taste perception as also of environmental problems. Participants comprehensionabout the link between environmental exposures and health was successful and they would recommend thissystem as education tools. Our conceptual design approach was validated and further developments wereencouraged.In this thesis,we demonstratehow to applyMultisensory HCI methodology to design with chemical senses. Weconclude that the presented symbolic representation model of smell and taste allows communicatingtheseexperiences on digital platforms. Due to its context-dependency, MVR and MAR platforms are adequatetechnologies to be applied for this purpose.Future developments intend to explore further the conceptual approach. These developments are centredon the use of the system to induce hopefully behaviourchange. Thisthesisopens up new application possibilities of digital chemical sense communication,Multisensory HCI Design and environmental health communication.À medida que os problemas ambientais se intensificam, os sentidos químicos -isto é, o cheiroe sabor, são os sentidos mais relevantes para evidenciá-los. Como tais, os vetores de exposição ambiental que podem atingir os seres humanos compreendem o ar, alimentos, solo e água [1]. Neste contexto, compreender a ligação entre as exposições ambientais e a saúde [2] é crucial para exercerescolhas informadas, proteger o meio ambiente e adaptar a novas condições ambientais [3]. O cheiroe o saborconduzemassima experiências multissensoriais que transmitem informações de múltiplas camadas sobre eventos locais e globais [4]. No entanto, esses sentidos geralmente estão ausentes quando esses problemas são representados em sistemas digitais. A disciplina do design de Interação Humano-Computador(HCI)multissensorial investiga a inclusão dossentidos químicos em sistemas digitais [9]. O seu foco atual residena digitalização de cheirose sabores para o envio, transmissão ou substituiçãode sentidos[10]. Apesar dasexperimentaçõescomprovarem a viabilidade tecnológica, a sua disseminação está dependentedo desenvolvimento de aplicações relevantes [11]. Estatese pretendepreencher estas lacunas ao demonstrar como os sentidos químicos explicitama interconexãoentre o meio ambiente e a saúde, recorrendo a narrativas científicas econtextualizadasgeograficamente[12], [13], [14]. Apresentamos uma metodologiade design HCImultissensorial que concretizouum sistema de representação simbólica de cheiro e sabor e nos conduziu a um novo sistema de interação multissensorial, que aqui apresentamos. Descrevemos o nosso estudo exploratório Earthsensum, que integra aconceptualização, design e avaliação. Earthsensumofereceu a 16participantes do estudo experiências ambientais de cheiro e sabor relacionadas com localizações geográficasreais. Essas experiências foram representadas digitalmente através derealidade virtual(VR)e realidade aumentada(AR).Estas tecnologias conectamo mundo real e digital através de representações digitais onde podemos reproduzir as experiências multissensoriais. Os resultados do nosso estudo provaramque o sistema interativo proposto é intuitivo e pode levar não apenas a uma melhor compreensão da perceção do cheiroe sabor, como também dos problemas ambientais. O entendimentosobre a interdependência entre exposições ambientais e saúde teve êxitoe os participantes recomendariam este sistema como ferramenta para aeducação. A nossa abordagem conceptual foi positivamentevalidadae novos desenvolvimentos foram incentivados. Nesta tese, demonstramos como aplicar metodologiasde design HCImultissensorialpara projetar com ossentidos químicos. Comprovamosque o modelo apresentado de representação simbólica do cheiroe do saborpermite comunicar essas experiênciasem plataformas digitais. Por serem dependentesdocontexto, as plataformas de aplicações emVR e AR são tecnologias adequadaspara este fim.Desenvolvimentos futuros pretendem aprofundar a nossa abordagemconceptual. Em particular, aspiramos desenvolvera aplicaçãodo sistema para promover mudanças de comportamento. Esta tese propõenovas possibilidades de aplicação da comunicação dos sentidos químicos em plataformas digitais, dedesign multissensorial HCI e de comunicação de saúde ambiental

THE PASSING INTENSITIES OF A NEIGHBORHOOD. SENSING ATMOSPHERES IN LA BOCA

The neighborhood of La Boca, located in the city of Buenos Aires, is an urban space burdened with a story and a unique aesthetic that differentiates it from other barrios in the city. In 2022, I visited this area to walk its streets, with the goal of understanding what elements marked this urban area as a distinctive place in the city. Situated within the rhetoric of space and place, this study relies on the concept of atmospheres developed by Gernot Böhme to account for the way the experience of place is constituted by an interplay between bodies, materiality and spaces. My research attends to the sensual qualities of place, I inquire about the way certain places feel, and how we become sensually and mentally inclined by space. The study helps illustrate how the atmosphere of a place emerges out of a rhetorical process, and the potential the concept offers for rhetorical examinations of space and place