Haptic and Olfactory Design - Resources for Vienna's Creative Industries

The project investigates which haptic qualities and smells – due to materials and activities in public places – constitute Vienna’s specific identity, how they contribute to the local residents’ emotional well-being and attract tourists, finally which materials and strategies can be used by architects and designers in order to enhance Vienna’s flair and raise its quality of life for all age groups.
Fall studies are Vienna’s parks and gardens, its public transport, cafés, popular public spaces, vintage shops and playgrounds. How and where does Vienna smell most intensively? Which atmosphere do customers expect in a Viennese café and how do materials produce specific moods? How does it feel to sit in the public transport and how does a blind person perceive public places in Vienna? Did the city smellscape change in the last decades and can be the old smells “revived”? Finally, do Vienna-based architects and designers have interest in cultivating these two senses?
The project makes an inventory of the tactile qualities and smells in public spaces, analyses and measures their smell intensity and the emotional reaction to odours. The research will result in a city smell calendar and smell maps for selected city areas, including an experimental “fragrant garden”.