Sensory Environments, Climate Change, and Sociopolitical Governance

This panel considers how regional and global dynamics of urban atmospheres and their politicisation draw upon debates pertaining to anthropogenic environmental change and challenges. How do sensory experiences and the connections across different sets of social relations mediate our engagement with the wider environment? What are the links between sensory engagement, bodily perceptions, and the sociopolitical governance of public health in historical and contemporary contexts? Some potential themes that this session explores include, but are not limited to, how power structures regulate sensory experiences and/or legitimise certain environmental narratives over others, how the manifold sensory aspects of climate change, pollution, and the lived experience of environments impinge upon ecological belonging, or how sensory practices and sociocultural inequalities intertwine with spatial, ecological, and built environments. Papers may explore historical, theoretical, conceptual or methodological premises in analysing the links between the senses and the environment.