Smell and The City

[Basenotes Robot]

What does a city smell like? Marloes Hagenaars goes sniffing round London with 'smell maps' creator, Kate McLean.

Read the rest of the article here

 

[Kaern]

Reading this reminds me -- has anyone else noticed that racks of designer clothes have been sprayed with one of the designers fragrances?

 

[lapel roll]

Yes I have. They do it in menswear shops too now.

I am a dedicated smellwalker. Not always consciously,I've been noticing aromas since childhood; though, as the article indicates, the moden world finds ways to remove or mask odours that you would otherwise encounter. One of my favourite aroma places was Manchester's Corn Exchange, before the IRA got to it. Now it's all neutralised and the smells are 'designed' and artificial.

I have a marvellous aroma atmosphere in the streets and wharves of Utrecht city centre where I've lived for some 15 years. A canoe trip through the narrowest parts of the canals, between musty ancient buildings, is a smell sensation.

 

[David Ruskin]

Wonderful. Smell as much as possible and as often as possible. Be aware of your sense of smell and use it, as the more you practise something the better you get at it. We all have a source of pleasure right under our noses; well, actually, it i<i>s</i> our noses! We don't use our sense of smell nearly enough, and that's a shame.

 

[superfluousPastry]

What flowers do we all have right under our noses?

Answer: two lips.

(Groan)

Scent maps are a neat idea!