Sensing environmental qualia:

A multisite sensory ethnographic exploration of select sensescapes of Montréal

Principal Investigator

David Howes, Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Co-Investigators

Florian Grond, Design and Computation Arts, Concordia University

Catherine Guastavino, School of Information Studies, Schulich School of Music, McGill Universityand Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media & Technology

Melissa Park, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CIRR)

Project description

This research project will employ the human person-centred, social scientific methodology of sensory ethnography to examine the atmosphere of select neighbourhoods in Montreal, with a particular focus on the sensible qualities or ambience of said neighborhoods.

Typical environmental assessment studies focus on measuring the atmosphere: for example, “air quality” is assessed in terms of concentrations of particulate matter (in parts per million on a scale of 1-10), or in decibel levels in the case of acoustic phenomena, or in lumens in the case of light. We maintain that a purely quantitative approach, relying solely on the use of such monitoring devices, would fail to capture the contingencies and sociocultural specificities of ‘the sensible.’ Hence, rather than measuring the air by means of sensors, this project will involve sensing the air ethnographically and thereby direct attention to the ‘sensory ambience’ or ‘sensescape’ of the neighborhoods selected for this study. We are particularly interested in investigating the influence of socioeconomic status or habitus (i.e. social class) on the participants’ perception and evaluation of the sensory qualities of the neighbourhoods in question.

We shall carry out two sensory case studies, or études sensorielles. The first study will centre on the divide between the City of Westmount, an affluent neighbourhood, and Saint-Henri, a working-class neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montréal. The second will focus on the Chabanel District (formerly known as the Garment District, also known as District Central) in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, a neighbourhood undergoing rapid gentrification.

Procedure: Together with our Research Assistants (RAs), we will undertake a preliminary sensory reconnaissance of the above-mentioned field sites in order to identify their soundmarks, smellmarks, touchscapes or textures and lightscapes (on the analogy of landmarks and landscapes), or ‘sensescapes’ in short, and devise an itinerary. Then, at an agreed upon date, we shall lead the research participants (in groups of two or four) on a sensory walking tour of the sites, drawing their attention to the pre-selected sensory features of the sites, and recording their impressions. Each sensory tour will set out from and terminate at a community centre (e.g., the Westmount Public Library). There, at the completion of each tour,  we shall engage in small-group and whole-group discussions centring on what sense the participants made of the sensory cues they encountered in the course of the walk and how they evaluated these sensations. We shall be recruiting up to 32 participants in all.

Of note: this study is not purely qualitative in orientation. It will also involve the use of sensors to register sound levels, light levels and particulate matter (e.g. volatile organic compounds), etc., in order to: a) establish a baseline, b) determine perceptual thresholds, and c) stimulate discussion regarding the frontier or intersection between the sensible and the subliminal or infrasensible (e.g. minute concentrations of volatile organic compounds, microdust) at the whole-group discussion sessions.

The outcomes of this study include the elaboration of a research tool called “sensing environmental qualia.” This tool along with the results of our inquiry will be disseminated at a) information sessions for interested citizens at community centres in the selected neighbourhoods, b) possible presentations before the urban planning departments of the City of Montreal and of Westmount, c) papers at academic conferences, and d) articles for publication in such journals as The Senses and Society or Anthropologie et Sociétés.

Text of recruitment flyer

“What contributes to the “sense-appeal” of the neighborhood in which you dwell? What sensory characteristics (e.g. sounds, scents or fumes, greenery, shade, vistas, textures, habitation density) stimulate – or, on the contrary, detract from – your feeling of attachment to place and sense of well-being?

We invite you to join us for a guided, sensory walking tour of your neighbourhood during which we address these and other questions crucial to the design of the built environment. We maintain that urban planners need to come to their senses, but they won’t unless we citizens tell them about how the stimulation of the senses matters to our feelings of attachment to the places in which we dwell.”

Text of recruitment interview

“The “Sensing environmental qualia” research project asks: What role do our senses play in shaping our feelings of attachment to the neighborhood in which we dwell? It is a study of environmental perception, attitudes and value.

Most studies of this sort take a purely physical, quantitative approach to the analysis of the atmosphere of a given locale. For example, “air quality” is measured in terms of concentrations of particulate matter (fumes, dust), sound in terms of decibel levels, light in terms of lumens, and so forth. Our approach seeks to supplement the data that can be gathered by means of such sensors with first-person accounts of how the design of the environment impacts place-attachment and sense of well-being.

Our study, then, is experiential in place of experimental, centred on the person instead of instruments, and therefore genuinely qualitative instead of strictly quantitative in orientation. For example, scientific studies have determined that sound levels in excess of 85 decibels may be harmful to our hearing, but fail to distinguish between “positive” and “negative” (i.e., unwanted) sounds. In other words, they lack subjectivity due to the way they objectify the environment by means of sensors, and override sensibilities. This project, by contrast, seeks to foreground the active use of the senses in the perception of the environment, as conditioned by our socioeconomic background (or ‘habitus’) and formative experiences (or sense-memories) and sense of well-being (in place of bare existence).

Accordingly, we are interested to find out how you yourself perceive the “sensescapes” (soundscape, smellscape, colour and lightscape, touchscape or texture, etc.) of the neighborhood in which you dwell. How does this contribute to your attachment to place (place-attachment)? Or not: perhaps you think that certain sensory characteristics (e.g. noise level, garbage pick-up, absence of greenery or shade) should be better regulated.

To this end, we invite you to participate in a guided sensory walking tour of your neighborhood and comment on your experience of its sensescape. The whole exercise will last approximately 3.5 hours.”

This research project is funded by RÉSEAU AIRS (AIR, INTERSECTORIALITÉ, RECHERCHE RESPIRATOIRE ET SONORE). AIRS is itself funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec. For further details see https://airs.quebec/