Feeling and interpreting the changing streetscape: Capturing experiences of urban atmospheres in Cuba Street, Wellington

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork in Cuba Street, Wellington (New Zealand), the paper contributes to the emergent body of empirical qualitative studies on urban atmospheres. It explores sensory experiences in a central urban streetscape setting focussing on individual feelings and interpretations of study participants expressed through field descriptions and sketches. The findings reveal a variety of atmospheric accounts and perceptual amalgamations that kept changing while participants walked through particular spatial situations. The study discusses the influence of the built environment, the role of movement, and the notion of ‘dominant’ urban atmospheres. Spatial and architectural arrangements as much as participants’ movement had a significant influence on their feelings and interpretations. The paper identifies ‘atmospheric zones’ that influenced study participants’ moods while walking through them. However, while related descriptions reveal similar atmospheric accounts, not all participants shared the same experiences. Experiential descriptions were diverse, sometimes contradicting, and did not always add up to a conclusive urban atmosphere. Findings challenge the notion of ‘dominant’ urban atmospheres and encourage atmospheric analysis that is inclusive of multiple experiential accounts and based on diverse first-person perspectives.