Sensing and Storying the Urban Landscape

People-Place Relations in Central Reykjavik

Abstract

The study explores the intertwined roles of sensory engagement and narrative practices in shaping place attachment in inner-city and central Reykjavík. Through a qualitative mixed-methods approach – including walk-alongs, audio-visually recorded in-situ group sessions and solitary self-led walks with audio-visual recording glasses – this study examines how individuals connect to the urban landscape and form place attachment through embodied experiences and the telling of personal and shared stories. Building on an understanding of the city space as relational, multiple and becoming, this study illustrates how sensorial experiences, reminiscences and stories shape and reshape the relationship between people and places. Special consideration is given to the notion of breccia to illuminate the dynamic relationship between past experiences, sensorial engagement and the materiality of place, thus underscoring how the participants’ understanding of and attachment to the built heritage of the city is in flux, always open to new stories and contexts.