Odors in a city are an integral part of its landscape, affecting residents' experience and perception of the space. The city offers a variety of aromas that can be both pleasant and bothersome, and for neuroatypical people can be a particularly intense experience.
When thinking about architecture and urban planning, it is easier to tell us about a space with an image. Even sound is closer to us, after all, larger cities are already making acoustic maps. And yet smell has a huge impact on the kind of experience we have. Recently, we could strongly experience its absence - anyone who lost their sense of smell in a pandemic knows how its absence can hurt. Smell occupies a significant place in spatial perception. Despite its importance, smell has been largely overlooked by urban planners and scientists alike, not least because it is difficult to record and analyze on a large scale.
What does my city smell like?
In learning about a city, a scent walk is an interesting tool[1]. Participants in such studies, exposed to a range of different scents, are asked to record their experiences. The words are then classified, creating a dictionary of urban smells. Odor mapping is a method of collecting data and illustrating subjective, dynamic urban odor landscapes. The creation of city odor maps also uses data from... social media. The aim is to create a reliable representation of the smells of entire cities. Collected photo tags with geolalization references are matched with words from the odor dictionary.
Among the aromas we find pleasant , the most common are the scents of freshly brewed coffee and baked bread wafting from establishments, the smells of blooming flowers and freshly mowed grass, the mix of smells of fresh fruits, vegetables and spices at local markets or rain, especially the fresh smell of the earth after rain, known as petrichor. It is pointed out that the pleasure of their scent is indicated by such characteristics as associations with cleanliness, freshness, tranquility, naturalness, but also personal intimacy, appropriateness. Also influential is whether the intensity of the scent. Scents emotionally connect people to their surroundings, influence human behavior and emotions, and evoke memories of the past.
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© Magdalena Milert
Fragrance differentiation
How we perceive particular smells varies depending on ourselves, but also geographically, depending on the climate present, also reflecting the social and cultural characteristics of the community. For example, the strong smell of cuisine in Manchester's China Town experienced by visitors is considered a distinct feature of the community there and their culinary culture, which also gives a new and unique identity to the place[2]. Similarly, one can recall the fish market in Catania, or the air in Krakow, for many people associated with stuffiness or the smell of a smokehouse. Thinking about how a city smells, which we can avoid, is able to help preserve its uniqueness.
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© Magdalena Milert
It's also important to remember that depending on the seasons, we may have a different experience. Spring brings with it the eagerly awaited fresh and floral scents that mark the end of the winter chill. Flowering trees such as chestnuts and magnolias fill the air with sweet aromas, if they can cut through the smog or the stench of cars standing in traffic jams. Summer is characterized by warmth and often sultry smells. Cities by the sea offer the fresh, salty scent of the sea breeze, summer rain will bring a pleasant smell of freshness, freshly cut grass or flower beds and park spaces invite you to relax, at the same time, in the depths of the city you can smell heated asphalt and exhaust fumes. Autumn, on the other hand, is a time when smells become more earthy and damp. Falling leaves and rain create a peculiar smell that can be soothing, in excess, however, disturbing, associated with neglect. Winter can be associated with a lack of smells, associated with lower temperatures and less outdoor activity. However, a beautiful scent can be the Christmas spices that one encounters when passing by bakeries and cafes. For many, this time and the air above the city is filled with the suffocating stench of fossil fuels and exhaust fumes.
Pollution vs. smell
The city's odor experience is also inevitably affected by air quality, as measured by the level of pollution from a number of human activities. Interestingly, in the odor walks mentioned in the introduction, specific categories (e.g., industry, transportation) coincide quite faithfully with air quality indicators. It should be noted, however, that pollutants may or may not be detected by smell. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is the world's greatest environmental threat to health and is responsible for one-eighth of all premature deaths worldwide.
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© Magdalena Milert
Unpleasant odors should not be confused with the need to eliminate them[3]. Many urban designers overlook their positive impact while confusing it with pollution[4]. Odors give places a distinct identity, and their smell plays an important cognitive function in us. What may colloquially speaking stink in a given culture, for other communities, often minority ones, may be a pleasant smell, or even an expression of belonging. The removal of the distinctive smells of Europe's cities is due in part to the traditional disregard for the sense of smell in Western culture, but it is also an afterthought of a century of social campaigns that have led to the relative deodorization of most cities[5]. Among the unfortunate effects of deodorization is a growing odor blandness in some areas of cities, often resulting in a loss of sense of place[6].
Illustration
© Magdalena Milert
An olfactory landscape for all
Designing cities with scent diversity in mind requires awareness and empathy. It is important to remember that for neurodiverse people, smells can have a much greater impact on their well-being and ability to function in urban spaces. For neuroatypical people, such as those on the autism spectrum, the intensity of typical urban smells can be overwhelming, so it is important that urban public spaces are designed with sensory diversity in mind. There are many benefits to using the regenerative aspect of smells. These can be found in the concept known from environmental psychology research, using scented trees, green spaces, parks, rivers, ponds and fountains in urban design.
Adapting public spaces to make them welcoming to all users is key to creating inclusive and sustainable urban environments. Finally, it is worth mentioning that a public space is any sidewalk, street, traffic circle or pedestrian crossing. It's not just stately squares and plazas. The everydayness of the olfactory landscape unfolds when we stand at a bus stop, breathing in exhaust fumes, crossing a bike path or walking with a child in a stroller.
Magdalena Milert
[1] Quercia, D., Schifanella, R., Aiello, L. M., & McLean, K. (2015). Smelly maps: the digital life of urban smellscapes. In Proceedings of the International AAAI conference on Web and Social Media (Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 327-336).
[2] Xiao, J., Tait, M., & Kang, J. (2018). A perceptual model of smellscape pleasantness. Cities, 76, 105-115.
[3] Xiao, J., Aletta, F., Radicchi, A., McLean, K., Shiner, L. E., & Verbeek, C. (2021). Recent advances in smellscape research for the built environment. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 700514.
[4] Henshaw, V. (2014). Urban Smellscapes: Understanding and Designing City Smell Environments. New York, NY: Routledge.
[5] Classen, C., Howes, D., and Synnott, A. (1994). Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell. London, UK: Routledge.
[6] Meighan, M. (2008). Glasgow Smells: A Nostalgic Tour of the City. Stroud: Tempus Publishers.
