Urban public spaces are dynamic social, cultural, and political arenas that are filled with meaning and that are constantly evolving as individuals and communities interact with them. In this way, urban spaces are living texts, where each street corner, park, and building tells a story shaped by myriad interactions and histories that have unfolded over time. They are, however, also marked by unequal power relations that manifest in diverse ways, leading to varying perceptions and experiences among individuals and groups. To make these multiple, differing meanings accessible, it is crucial to employ inclusive and creative research methodologies that aim to break with long-established hierarchies.

While qualitative and quantitative research methods have traditionally been used to generate knowledge about urban spaces, arts-based research methods hold the promise to create new perspectives for research, to chart alternative pathways for knowledge creation, and to highlight aspects of lived urbanity that have been unnoticed or under-researched. They expand the toolkit of the urban geographer by making urban spaces accessible through aesthetic approaches and by providing means to express complex emotional and affective meanings. Arts-based research methods can foster citizen participation, give marginalized people a voice, and create new spatialities in different media that transform our traditional way of seeing things. Hence, they can provide the means and media to re-imagine urban lifeworlds and re-invent the ways we live together in shared urban environments.

For this session, we invite research that has developed innovative, arts-based research approaches to examine how lived experience and individual life trajectories influence our understanding of urban spaces and the complex layers of identity and belonging defining our cities.

We welcome contributions on the following topics:

– Arts-based research as a method and/or research perspective within urban studies, advancing the toolkit of geographical research and providing insights into innovative research techniques

– Research focusing on the plurality of voices, meanings, and experiences inscribed into the urban fabric.

– Research that prioritizes marginalized voices, aiming to make research more inclusive.

– Research that emphasizes citizen participation and the co-creation of urban spaces.