Rachel Thomas and Damien Masson are organising and animating two sessions called “Towards a political ecology of ambiances/atmospheres” at the American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting, which will be held on 3-7 April in Washington, DC.

Theses two sessions aim at questioning the possibility of reconciling descriptive approaches of mundane social life (attentive to its sensitive, emotional and atmospheric/ambient dimension), with critical approaches? In other words, how can the sensory, affective, atmospheric research convey issues of social and political criticism?

  • Session 1:

– Damien Masson Université de Cergy-Pontoise, Rachel Thomas-Bouchon CRESSON, Towards a political ecology of ambiances/atmospheres

– Simon Runkel, Heidelberg University, « Welcome to Rabiatistan »: affective atmospheres in crisis simulations

– Juan Elvira, IE University, Spain, A biopolitical satire: Hans Hollein’s atmospheres at the XIV Triennale di Milano (1968)

– Andrea Wheeler: Iowa State University, A Political And Ecological Aesthetic of Architecture

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  • Session 2:

– Asya Natapov, UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Helena Grinshpun, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hidden in the most visible place: Measuring visual accessibility and social performance of urban kiosks.

– Valérie Lavaud-Letilleul, University of Montpellier 3, Isabelle Berry-Chikhaoui, University of Montpellier 3, From « Likes and dislikes » to « Just and unjust »: Inhabitants’ sensory experiences and community protests in maritime industrial areas.

– Aftab Mirzaei, York University, What exactly happens when a space becomes smart? OR: What can we learn from the experience and feeling of envelopment in an intelligent space? And what of the “dumb” space?

-Perrine Poupin, EHESS, Street ambiance, protest and political experiences in Kiev, Ukraine

– Francois-Joseph Daniel, Hostile atmospheres, qualisigns and the delicate construction of a dialogue of affects

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