Psychogeography

Originated in mid-20th century Europe (Paris?); term coined by Debord, founding member of the Letterist International and later the Situationist International, in 1955. Exploring how environments (esp. urban environments) shape human experience, and how people can subvert or reimagine these environments.

Abdelhafid Khatib conducted an early psychogeographic study of Les Halles in Paris in 1958 (later demolished to make way for the Pompidou Centre?).

The dérive (drift): an unplanned, spontaneous walk through an urban environment, guided by the contours and atmospheres of the space.

• [?] The Situationists saw psychogeography as part of an anti-capitalist political project, while later it became more of an artistic and literary mode; has it become depoliticised?
• [?] How does technology alter the psychogeographic experience? Does the constant connectivity enhance or detract from the practices of dérive and flânerie?
• [?] Is it possible to develop methodologies that measure the subjective experiences central to psychogeography? If so, what metrics could be used?
• [?] Can psychogeography contribute to understanding and improving urban resilience? What insights can it access that traditional urban studies might miss?
• [⎈] Consider how psychogeographic concepts like the dérive could be extended to virtual spaces, like websites, video games, and social media platforms. How do the “psychogeographical contours” of digital environments shape behavior and emotion?

• [⎈] Think about options for mapping the agency of more-than-human urban assemblages and infrastructures; how buildings, roads, electricity grids etc. shape human emotion and behaviour.

• [&] A (cutivated) sensitivity to heterotopias and the heterotopic?
• [&] See also: sociotechnical flânerie (how are they similar, how are they different?)

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: Hauntology