Urban Atmospherics. The Intangible City as a Knowledge Resource

Knowledge is encoded and accumulated in cityscapes - but how to address, access and activate this intangible intellectual capital remains a major question. The distinction of different "aggregation states" of knowledge provides a clue: On the one hand, knowledge results in physical manifestations which are very tangible and explicit (buildings, infrastructures, products). On the other hand, knowledge remains intangible, invisible, and implicit to a wide extent (ideas, thoughts, concepts). This links to the idea of the "Intangible City": city environments are as much constituted by intangible factors as by tangible ones. Whereas material flows and processes make up physical cityscapes, intellectual activities create mental cityscapes. In this regard, the article puts forward the central concept of Urban Atmospheres. Such intangible atmospheres influence people's behaviour and activities, including intellectual performance. Just as tangible city spaces control physical activity and movement, intangible urban atmospheres also have a considerable impact on knowledge activities like creativity, learning, and innovation. This hints at the power of atmospheres for nonexplicit knowledge sharing. Atmospheres may not only emerge as a new paradigm for urban design, but also for concepts on collective knowledge processes.