Mapping Urban Experience Digitally

Think of a city you have recently visited or currently live in and what comes to mind? Most likely you think of snapshots of experiences that come and go. For example, a mix of old and young men laughing, joking and slamming domino stones loudly on concrete tables in Berkley Square, New York; a Sunday morning, walking leisurely through the narrow passage ways of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona and admiring the play of sun and shadows on balconies above you; the views from London’s Millennium Bridge towards St Paul’s while trying to avoid bumping into the chatting tourists walking to the Tate Modern. Cities are lived places that we experience and make sense of through our sensing bodies. We see the physical shapes and colours of the architecture surrounding us; we can feel the change in temperature as we cross the road from a sunny spot to the shade; we can hear the voices of people and traffic around us as our bodies brush past the crowds; and we can smell and taste a latte on our lips.