Examining the rhythms of ‘urban elements’ on walking and driving routes in the city

ABSTRACT

The article follows Kevin Lynch’s renowned formulation of ‘urban elements’ to examine the mobilities, experiences and materialities on ordinary routes in the city. Utilizing route narratives and participant-produced visual data, the article focuses on various identifiable micro-temporalities and mobility rhythms on repeated walking and driving routes, building on Henri Lefebvre’s notion of ‘rhythmanalysis’. The article examines how a framework built around rhythm and urban elements can add to the analysis of contemporary urban sites from the perspectives of situated mobile contexts, noting sequences and polyrhythmia as central temporal characteristics in the body‒environment relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Rhythm
• rhythmanalysis
• urban elements
• mobilities
• everyday life
• mobile methods

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Turku Urban Research Programme in the form of a research grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Turku Urban Research Programme in the form of a research grant.