Abstract

There is increasing common ground between the art world and the social sciences. This is particularly true of work related to sonic spaces, sensory environments and everyday aesthetics. Shared questions are surfacing, enabling us to take advantage of cross-breeding and the contribution of the two perspectives. The field of urban ambiances has featured largely in these exchanges between artistic creation and scientific research. Whether one defines ambiance as the sensory atmosphere of place, the pervasive quality of a situation or the affective tonality of an environment, the question of in situ experience is inevitably raised. This means that an ambiance is always situated, set in a particular space and time, which it helps to singularize and qualify in return. Consider the buzz of a market or railway station, or the way an airport, cathedral or public square sounds. A singular atmosphere emerges from each of these spaces, expressing and inducing a way of being together.