521.1 Urban a/effect: Experiencing urban change

Friday, August 3, 2012: 10:45 AM
Faculty of Economics, TBA
Oral
Emma FELTON , Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Now that the majority of the world’s population lives in cities - of increasing cultural, social and ethnic diversity – the capacity for urban dwellers to negotiate difference is essential for the promotion of social cohesion and sociability. A defining characteristic of cities is that we live among strangers; it’s a place where we meet with and brush up against the “Other” (Barthes 1986).  A cornucopia of sights, sounds, smells, feelings and auditory sensual input, living in the city can be an emotional experience that requires specific skills, tactics and tolerances. This is all the more the case for cities that have experienced intensification of urban development and change, as many have since the latter part of the twentieth-century.  

Based on a study of the rapidly developing city of Brisbane, Australia, this paper considers the role of emotion in people’s relationship with their changing inner-city neighbourhoods. It presents data from interviews and surveys with residents that highlight the ways in which emotion and sociability are central to people’s experience of their urban habitat and how their changing environment is perceived. The current focus on environmental sustainability should not overlook a critical understanding of affect, experience and the consequences for social sustainability which is vital for the development of democratic and harmonious places.