ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part describes the reductive tendency of privileging sight in contrast to the “multimodal” nature of our sensing of the city. Bringing together cases as diverse as onomatopoeia and “sensory overload”, and studies of personal stereo use, “masking” public spaces with white noise or deodorant and sensor-operated architecture, it presents the issue of “sensory agency” as a political platform for negotiating the mediated city. The part considers situations in which differential meanings of urban media space become the basis of publicly voiced claims and “communing”. It explores intended temporary disruptions of the urban order with a focus on discusses do-it-yourself architecture, guerilla urbanism and place-hacking—from the Situationist International to “urban explorers” who redefine the meaning of “access” to guarded urban sites. In the urban world where most spaces have been privatized, the creation of “situation” articulates mediation as reflection and practice as critique.
