ChoreoSensing Toronto's Residential Neighbourhood Public Spaces by Mushtari Afroz

Whether it’s urban or suburban areas in cities, public spaces in residential areas are fundamental to everyday life experiences(1) which have been linked to well-being and quality of life of residents. Consciously or unconsciously, we connect with them through multi-sensory interactions (2) that create overall impressions of our neighbourhood public spaces(3,4), and help establish meaningful connections with the neighbourhood community. However, the drive for creating ‘functional cities’ (5) in the West through ‘disembodied’ practices (6) has detached public spaces from our bodies(7) , instituting the stage of mutual ‘disengagement’ as a retreat from everyday public spaces (8) and deteriorating the sense of belonging to the residential neighbourhood environment. As a result, residents either tend to avoid connecting with public spaces altogether or resemble an ‘auto-pilot’ state (9) manifested through their lack of sensory attention to public spaces– they see the surroundings but do not look, they hear the surroundings but do not listen. In this research, my aim is to devise a sensory engagement practice, which I call ‘ChoreoSensing’ (10), to (re)’engage’ residents with socio-physical dimensions of their neighbourhood public spaces. Focusing on two most dominant senses – visual and auditory - the practice attempts to establish deeper sensory and embodied engagement of residents with physical/material and social aspects of their neighbourhood public spaces. The research is conducted through interdisciplinary methods including sensory walks/movements, choreographic thinking toward pedestrian movements for sensory engagement score development, pop-up interventions (11), participatory experiments with residents and conversational form feedback (12). The purpose of my research is to empower residents to awaken their sensory engagement with neighbourhood public spaces and subsequently, enhance their sense of belonging to the neighbourhood (13,14), through a series of performative and grassroots initiatives. Works Cited: 1. Certeau, M. D. (1980.). The Practice of Everyday Life (L'invention du quotidien. Vol. 1, Arts de faire'). Paris.: Folio Essais. 2. Dong, Y. (2022.). Designing with Senses: Creating Interactive Multisensory Experiences in Public Space. Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon University. 3. Pallasmaa, J. (2016.). The Sixth Sense: The Meaning of Atmosphere and Mood. Archit. Des., 86 (6): 126-133. 4. Hasse, J. (2016.). Traffic architecture- hidden affections. Elements of Architecture: Assembling Archaeology, Atmosphere and the Performance of Building Spaces. Oxon: Routledge. 5. Holston, J. (1989.). The Modernist City - An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia. Chicago.: The University of Chicago Press. 6. The term "disembodied" refers to practices or experiences that are disconnected from the physical body or embodied experience. In the context of public space and city design, disembodied practices refer to approaches that prioritize abstract concepts or ideas over the lived experiences of the people who use those spaces. 7. Pallasmaa, J. (2012.). The Eyes of the Skin -Architecture and the Senses. New York.: John Wiley & Sons. 8. Wacquant, L. a. (2014.). Territorial stigmatization in action. Environment and Planning A., 46: 1270–1280. 9. Middleton, J. (2010.). Sense and the city: exploring the embodied geographies of urban walking. Social and Cultural Geography., 11(6): 575-596. 10. The method and set of tools are inspired by the various past work (see citations) but artistic representation was developed by myself to align with my research objectives. 11. Lydon, M. a. (2015.). Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change. Washington, D.C. Island Press. 12. Lerman, L. a. (2022.). Critique Is Creative - The Critical Response Process in Theory and Action. Middletown. Wesleyan University Press. 13. Costanza, R., Fisher, B., & Ali, S. (2007). Quality of life: an approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being. Ecological Economics, 61(2–3), 267–276 14. Di Masso, A., Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2014). Place attachment as discursive practice. In L. C. Manzo, & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 75–86). Routledge.

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Whether it’s urban or suburban areas in cities, public spaces in residential areas are fundamental to everyday life experiences(1) which have been linked to well-being and quality of life of residents. Consciously or unconsciously, we connect with them through multi-sensory interactions (2) that create overall impressions of our neighbourhood public spaces(3,4), and help establish meaningful connections with the neighbourhood community. However, the drive for creating ‘functional cities’ (5) in the West through ‘disembodied’ practices (6) has detached public spaces from our bodies(7) , instituting the stage of mutual ‘disengagement’ as a retreat from everyday public spaces (8) and deteriorating the sense of belonging to the residential neighbourhood environment. As a result, residents either tend to avoid connecting with public spaces altogether or resemble an ‘auto-pilot’ state (9) manifested through their lack of sensory attention to public spaces– they see the surroundings but do not look, they hear the surroundings but do not listen. In this research, my aim is to devise a sensory engagement practice, which I call ‘ChoreoSensing’ (10), to (re)’engage’ residents with socio-physical dimensions of their neighbourhood public spaces. Focusing on two most dominant senses – visual and auditory - the practice attempts to establish deeper sensory and embodied engagement of residents with physical/material and social aspects of their neighbourhood public spaces. The research is conducted through interdisciplinary methods including sensory walks/movements, choreographic thinking toward pedestrian movements for sensory engagement score development, pop-up interventions (11), participatory experiments with residents and conversational form feedback (12). The purpose of my research is to empower residents to awaken their sensory engagement with neighbourhood public spaces and subsequently, enhance their sense of belonging to the neighbourhood (13,14), through a series of performative and grassroots initiatives. Works Cited: 1. Certeau, M. D. (1980.). The Practice of Everyday Life (L'invention du quotidien. Vol. 1, Arts de faire'). Paris.: Folio Essais. 2. Dong, Y. (2022.). Designing with Senses: Creating Interactive Multisensory Experiences in Public Space. Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon University. 3. Pallasmaa, J. (2016.). The Sixth Sense: The Meaning of Atmosphere and Mood. Archit. Des., 86 (6): 126-133. 4. Hasse, J. (2016.). Traffic architecture- hidden affections. Elements of Architecture: Assembling Archaeology, Atmosphere and the Performance of Building Spaces. Oxon: Routledge. 5. Holston, J. (1989.). The Modernist City - An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia. Chicago.: The University of Chicago Press. 6. The term "disembodied" refers to practices or experiences that are disconnected from the physical body or embodied experience. In the context of public space and city design, disembodied practices refer to approaches that prioritize abstract concepts or ideas over the lived experiences of the people who use those spaces. 7. Pallasmaa, J. (2012.). The Eyes of the Skin -Architecture and the Senses. New York.: John Wiley & Sons. 8. Wacquant, L. a. (2014.). Territorial stigmatization in action. Environment and Planning A., 46: 1270–1280. 9. Middleton, J. (2010.). Sense and the city: exploring the embodied geographies of urban walking. Social and Cultural Geography., 11(6): 575-596. 10. The method and set of tools are inspired by the various past work (see citations) but artistic representation was developed by myself to align with my research objectives. 11. Lydon, M. a. (2015.). Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change. Washington, D.C. Island Press. 12. Lerman, L. a. (2022.). Critique Is Creative - The Critical Response Process in Theory and Action. Middletown. Wesleyan University Press. 13. Costanza, R., Fisher, B., & Ali, S. (2007). Quality of life: an approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being. Ecological Economics, 61(2–3), 267–276 14. Di Masso, A., Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2014). Place attachment as discursive practice. In L. C. Manzo, & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 75–86). Routledge.
Mushtari Afroz - ChoreoSensing Toronto's Residential Neighbourhood Public Spaces - 2023
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