Understanding smellscapes: sense-making of smell-triggered emotions in place

Smells can evoke strong emotions and convey social meanings associated with people and places. This study explored the perceptual process of smellscape perceptions through a case study in Sheffield Railway Station and Bus Interchange. Walk-along interviews were used to collect data on people’s perceptions onsite. It aims to understand how people make sense of their emotions triggered by smells in real life context, in relation to the physical space and onsite environment as well as their subjectivities. Nine perceptual patterns emerged in participants’ sense-makings of smellscapes : recognising or identifying, associating, locating, evaluating, anticipating, contextualising comparing, generalising and personalising. A perceptual process model has been constructive from the empirical data mapping the interrelationships between smells, spaces and emotions. The findings from this paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of ‘perception’ in the smellscape concept. The perceptual process model provides a framework to interpret and communicate smellscapes in future design and planning practice