Chapter 7 Changing Atmospheres:On the Duration and Exploration of Urban Experiences

Comparing two different descriptions of the atmosphere of one and the same city allows for interesting insights regarding the production, duration and perception of urban atmospheres. Aspects of time are very important in this context as they form typical atmospheres here and always, ensure that the patina of the city and the people is based on experience, and generate expectations prior to actually felt-bodily perceptions by means of narration. Changes in environmental qualities or modes of perception can provide clues to both typologies of places and the people present. Moreover, this chapter introduces the Atmospheric Portfolio, which illustrates how research on personal atmospheric perception as well as site-specific atmospheres of a location becomes possible. In the sense of further heuristic starting points, methods employed by other research projects will supplement the study.