Abstract
Today, research on the ‘character’ of urban places is often conducted from a top-down aerial perspective, particularly ahead of construction or regeneration processes. These lofty viewpoints result in a certain detachment from the daily experiences of city-goers and life at ground-level. Computer assisted technological apparatuses such as land-sat and LiDAR further segregate the image of urban space from the eyes of the citizen, instead generating a patchwork likeness of the city out of polygons and pixels. This research project presents a framework for exploring the ‘character’ of urban areas as engaged with by human beings. A range of arts-based surveying processes, undertaken in sites of renewal in European cities, demonstrate how photographic practices of locative searching and spatial exploration can provide an underutilised human vision of places in cities. The outcomes of this research evidence how such imagery is especially relevant in situations where change or redevelopment is soon to occur. Building upon the human-focused methods of Jane Jacobs, Kevin Lynch and Gordon Cullen, the intention of these methods is not to shield urban landscapes from reconstruction or rally against the ongoing political upheavals caused by physical change. Instead, this research seeks to determine a photographic stratagem for understanding the experiences, memories and character embedded within sites of renewal. This paper outlines how the visual data gathered through such methods might provide much-needed perspectives of people, which can help to convey aspects of their relationship with the built landscapes that they inhabit before these places are forever altered.
Presenters
Dan BrackenburySenior Lecturer, Graphic Design, Falmouth University, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Urban renewal, Placemaking, Street photography, Photo-essay, Practice-based research methods
