Entry requirements

60 higher education credits, and English 6

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

The course is not part of any main field of studies

Course contents

Students will engage with a range of theoretical frameworks and artistic practices that foreground the role of the senses – such as sound and smell – in perceiving and interpreting space. The course introduces hybrid methodologies that combine traditional fieldwork with participant-oriented approaches and data-driven techniques.

Core activities include sensory walks (e.g., soundwalking, smellwalking), experimental mapping exercises, and engagement with electronic sensor systems for environmental sensing. Students will be encouraged to explore diverse environments – from urban landscapes and post-industrial sites to nature reserves – while reflecting on themes such as nature connectedness and the temporal dimensions of place.

The course emphasises methodological experimentation and critical reflection, offering students the opportunity to develop their own sensory mapping projects in response to specific environments.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Apply multisensory strategies to represent and interpret diverse environments.
2. Critically engage with theoretical and artistic frameworks related to sensory mapping.
3. Explore and apply hybrid and participatory methodologies that integrate sensory experience with digital data collection and visualization.
4. Reflect on the role of sensing in shaping understandings of space and place in past, present, and future.
5. Develop and present a site-specific mapping project working individually or in groups that synthesises course concepts and methods.

Learning activities

Lectures, workshops, seminars, fieldwork, site visits, sensory walking methods, hackathons.

Assessment

1. Exhibition presentation. Students will present sensory maps in an interactive demonstration or poster format, and motivate their work in an oral discussion during which students will be asked to individually reflect on their theoretical and practical contributions to the outcomes. (LOs 1, 3 & 5) [10hp]
2. Oral examination. Students will be examined individually on course material (LOs 2 & 4) [5hp]

Both examination moments must be passed to receive a passing grade for the course. Three opportunities for examination are offered during the academic year. Students who have not finished the course, have the opportunity to take part in examinations the next time the course is offered. Under such circumstances, assignments are carried out according to the literature and assignments that are valid during the time the examination is carried out.

For re-examination of certain assignments, such as production assignments and group projects, certain circumstances apply since the examination of these assignments are dependent on student participation during certain periods of time and in specific projects. Re-examinations will be offered according to the student’s rights, but with adjustments to the specific assignment since it cannot be conducted in the same context as the ordinary examination.

Course literature

Rodaway, I. (1994). Sensuous geographies. Routledge. Part 1: *Sense and Geography *

McLean, A. B. (2020). Nose first: Practices of smellwalking and smellscape mapping [PhD thesis, Royal College of Art]. Royal College of Art Repository. https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/3945/ Chapters 1-3.

Abram, D. (1996). The spell of the sensuous: Perception and language in a more-than-human world. Vintage Books. Chapter 2: Philosophy on the Way to Ecology

Additional literature, not exceeding 100 pages, will be introduced according to contemporary research and the project.

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.