Encounters with a future past: navigating the shifting urban atmospheres of place

ABSTRACT

There has been recent concern about the destabilizing influence of individuals’ everyday encounters with managed atmospheres. This paper draws on autoethnographic data, information relating to the physical fabric, and narratives from stakeholders involved with the design and management of the Eastside area of Birmingham, UK, to demonstrate how urban atmospheres are also shaped by shifting temporal dynamics, the area’s historical, cultural and regulatory context, and the prior experiences individuals bring to spaces undergoing regeneration. The paper concludes by suggesting that this analysis has much to offer to designers, educators and stakeholders involved with improving the design and management of place.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the interviewees for taking the time to participate in this study. Thanks, too, go to Tim Edensor for his valuable comments on an earlier draft. Finally, the authors gratefully appreciate the feedback from Jeremy Whitehand and other members of the Urban Morphology Research Group.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Ninety per cent of the 303 individuals recorded during the 2016 observations of the park were pedestrians. Marginally more ‘white’ people used the park than ‘non-white’; most people were male and under 30 years old.