SENSORY URBANISM: LISTENING TO THE CITY
Sensory Urbanism is a five-episode podcast miniseries produced by the Sensory Urbanism Collective that explores cities through sound, walking, and sensory encounter across distinct urban and regional contexts. Foregrounding sonic environments not as background noise but as critical registers through which social relations, power, inequality, and urban transformation are lived and negotiated, the series experiments with sound as both method and mode of urban storytelling.
Each episode takes the form of a situated walking conversation collaboratively shaped by two interlocutors and recorded in situ by researchers with long-term empirical engagement in specific cities. Combining dialogue, ambient recordings, reflective narration, and sound design, the series attunes listeners to the sensory dimensions of urban life constituted through rhythms, resonances, interruptions, silences, and atmospheres. In doing so, the project seeks to extend urban research beyond conventional academic formats and toward more accessible, affective, and experiential forms of knowledge production.
The first episode takes listeners to Zurich, where Nitin Bathla and Christian Schmid discuss planetary urbanisation, urban movements, and the continuing relevance of Henri Lefebvre for understanding contemporary urban transformation.
The second episode, recorded in Karachi, features Taimoor Ahmed and Nausheen Anwar in conversation on climate urbanism, heat, and urban risk.
The third episode, based in Lisbon, brings together Pedro Figueiredo Neto and Ana Rita Alves to explore anti-racist struggles and the politics of urban belonging.
The fourth episode travels to the Brazilian Amazon, where Junia Mortimer and Roberto Luís Monte-Mor discuss extended urbanisation, extractivism, and the naturalisation of the city.
The fifth episode, recorded in Al-Hassan Industrial City in Jordan, features Katharina Grüneisl and David Lagarde discussing global garment production, labour, and logistics.
PRODUCERS
The Sensory Urbanism Collective is a collaborative network of researchers working on urban sensory environment: Christian Schmid, Nausheen Anwar, Roberto Luís Monte-Mor, Junia Mortimer, Pedro Figueiredo Neto, Ana Rita Alves, Katharina Grüneisl, David Lagarde, Taimoor Ahmed, and Nitin Bathla.
Christian Schmid (ETH Zurich) is Professor emeritus at ETH Zurich and one of the leading theorists of planetary urbanization. His work bridges urban theory, architecture, and social sciences. Schmid has co-authored influential publications including Henri Lefebvre and the Theory of the Production of Space (Verso, 2022) and edited volumes such as Extended Urbanization: Tracing Planetary Struggles (2023). Beyond academic publishing, he has been involved in exhibitions, video activism, and exploring urban transformations globally.
Nausheen H. Anwar (Karachi Urban Lab) is Professor of City and Regional Planning at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, and founder and director of the Karachi Urban Lab, an interdisciplinary research center focusing on urban futures, climate risk, and inequality in the Global South. Her work spans academic research, policy engagement, and public scholarship, including media commentary and international collaborations on climate change and urban governance. She has published widely in journals including Urban Studies and IJURR and frequently engages with public media on issues such as extreme heat, climate risk, and urban infrastructure in South Asia.
Roberto Luís Monte-Mór (Federal University of Minas Gerais) is a leading Brazilian urban theorist and Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). His work focuses on extended urbanization, regional planning, and alternative economies, with particular attention to urbanization processes in the Amazon. Monte-Mór has published widely on urban theory and development and has collaborated internationally on projects examining urbanization beyond traditional city boundaries. His work bridges urban economics, planning, and environmental questions, contributing to debates on planetary urbanization and alternative development pathways in the Global South.
Junia Cambraia Mortimer (Federal University of Minas Gerais) is Assistant Professor in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Her work examines urban archives, photography, and visual cultures of urbanization. Trained as an architect and researcher in visual studies, she combines scholarly research with photographic practice and curatorial work. Mortimer leads the Laboratory of Image and Architecture Studies (LEIA) and collaborates on interdisciplinary projects exploring visual archives as methods for urban research. Her publications address the relationship between images, urban memory, and historiography, and she has contributed to exhibitions and visual research initiatives engaging broader publics.
Pedro Figueiredo Neto (University of Lisbon) is a multimodal researcher working at the intersection of anthropology, architecture, and media practice. Based at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon, his work combines ethnography with filmmaking and audiovisual experimentation. Neto has produced award-winning documentary films and film-articles screened at international festivals and museums. His research explores displacement, borders, and urbanization across Lusophone Africa and Europe, and his audiovisual work has been widely used in teaching and research dissemination.
Ana Rita Alves (University of Coimbra) is a scholar of race, urban politics, and critical urban theory based at the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. Her work investigates racialized urban governance, housing, and state violence in Portugal, combining academic research with public engagement in debates on racial justice. Alves’ research spans anthropology, urban studies, and critical race theory, and she has contributed to policy discussions, public programmes, and cultural initiatives addressing racism and urban inequality in Portugal.
Katharina Grüneisl (University of Nottingham) is a human geographer whose research focuses on labour, global commodity chains, and urban economies in North Africa and the Middle East. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham. Her work examines second-hand markets, labour migration, and global production networks, with recent research on garment production zones in Jordan. Grüneisl combines ethnographic research with collaborative and experimental methodologies, including participatory sound mapping projects exploring labour, mobility, and urban environments.
David Lagarde (Independent academic) is a geographer and sound artist whose work combines cartography, field recording, and audiovisual storytelling. Trained as a geographer, he works as a freelance artist-author producing sound maps, installations, and audio-visual research outputs. His projects include environmental sound mapping, heritage soundscapes, and artistic walking performances based on field recordings. Lagarde is also a regular contributor to the ARTE television programme Le dessous des cartes and has produced soundscape projects for museums, research programmes, and public institutions.
Taimoor Ahmed (Karachi Urban Lab / IBA) is a sonic urban researcher and sound practitioner working with field recordings and soundscape documentation. Based in Karachi, he collaborates with the Karachi Urban Lab and works in media production at the Center for Excellence in Journalism (IBA). Ahmed manages interdisciplinary audio and journalism projects, including podcast production and digital storytelling initiatives. His research focuses on documenting Karachi’s urban soundscapes through field recordings and experimental sound compositions exploring infrastructure, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology.
Ludwig Berger (Sound Designer) is a professional sound designer and audio producer specializing in documentary audio and spatial sound. He collaborates with researchers, filmmakers, and artists to produce immersive soundscapes, podcasts, and audio-visual installations.
Nitin Bathla (University of Zurich / ETH Zurich) is an urban geographer and Group Leader of Infrastructure Geography at the University of Zurich and lecturer at ETH Zurich. His research explores infrastructures, urban political ecology, and sensory approaches to urbanization. Bathla has extensive experience in multimodal scholarship, including film, exhibitions, and podcasts. He co-edits the Urban Political Podcast, a platform for conversations on critical urban theory and urban politics. His 2020 documentary Not Just Roads received the SAH Film & Video Award, and his 2024 award-winning book Researching Otherwise explores sensory, creative, and imaginative methods for research into pluriversal lifeworlds.
