CitySenZ at a glance
CitySenZ Conference 3 – “Balancing and Aligning: Polyphonies of Ambiances”
1–2 December 2026 · Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece
The third CitySenZ conference will examine the sensory, social, ecological, technical and more-than-human dimensions of lived spaces. Abstract submissions closed on 7 September; the review process is now beginning. Accepted authors should note the six-page full paper deadline of 30 October 2026. There is no registration fee.
Conference information
WG3 Workshop – “Sensing Kypseli: Urban Polyphonies and Relational Architectures”
28–30 November 2026 · Kypseli Municipal Market, Athens, Greece
Immediately before Conference 3, WG3 will hold a three-day situated workshop exploring Kypseli through listening, sensing and documenting urban ambiances. Activities will include sound recordings, environmental measurements, photography, interviews, drawings and collective mapping, with attention to relations between people, spaces, infrastructures, environmental conditions and other living beings.
Workshop information
Special CitySenZ grants for September 2026
Activities must be completed by 30 September 2026
CitySenZ invited applications for grants supporting research, training, dissemination and collaboration related to the Action objectives. Applications for the September opportunities were evaluated on a rolling basis until the available budget was exhausted. This operation will be repeated next year.
CitySenZ Off-Site
The Global Composition 2026 — Germany
Mohammed Boubezari, Chair of COST Action CitySenZ, was invited as a keynote lecturer at The Global Composition 2026 – Connective Resonance for (Post)Humans, held in Darmstadt/Dieburg, Germany, 3–6 September 2026.
His keynote, “Can We Shape Cities by Ear? Co-creating Livable Urban Soundscapes through Ambiance-Oriented Design,” explored how listening and soundscape approaches can contribute to the design of more livable cities.
He also participated in the panel discussion “Resonant Cities: Urban Soundscapes and Democratic Futures,” dedicated to the relationships between urban soundscapes, participation and democratic futures.
Both the keynote lecture and the panel discussion will soon be available online.
The Global Composition 2026: Conference Link
Working Group updates
WG2 – Data Collection and Archiving
WG2, led by Inês Lima Rodrigues with Dalit Shach-Pinsly as Co-Leader, has continued to develop its methodological agenda through coordination meetings, international dissemination and research mobility. Recent work has focused on linking the collection and mapping of sensory and experiential data with archival description, metadata, preservation, accessibility and reuse.
Bringing CitySenZ into the archival studies debate – AERI 2026
July 2026 · Vancouver, Canada
Inês Lima Rodrigues presented “How Can Ambiences Be Archived? Methodological Frameworks for Collecting and Mapping Sensory Urban Data”, co-authored with Dalit Shach-Pinsly, at the Archival Education and Research Initiative (AERI) 2026. Discussion addressed how sensory and environmental records might be described, which metadata standards may be appropriate, potential users of such records, and how ephemeral or subjective phenomena—including sensations and soundscapes—can be documented and preserved.
STSM at the Canadian Centre for Architecture
31 August–11 September 2026 · Montreal, Canada
Inês Lima Rodrigues is undertaking the STSM “Archiving Urban Ambiances: Exploring Architectural Archives, Oral Histories and Visual Collections at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)”. The mission examines photographs, audiovisual records, oral histories, testimonies, archival description, finding aids and access systems as sources for documenting and interpreting urban ambiances.
Canadian Centre for Architecture
Two incoming WG2 STSMs in Lisbon
September 2026 · DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte, Lisbon
From 21–30 September, Julia Rabêlo Rodrigues will investigate archival sources for urban ambiances and housing environments in Metropolitan Lisbon, using Bairro do Zambujal as a principal case study. Çiğsem Yağmur Yüksel will develop a socio-ecological sensory mapping framework using participant sensory surveys, qualitative coding, Human-in-the-Loop AI and MAXQDA. Together, the missions connect existing archival records with contemporary lived urban experience and methods for structuring multisensory data.
Next WG2 meeting
Early October 2026 · Online
The full WG2 will reconvene to share outcomes from AERI and the STSM activities and to discuss the next phase of collective work towards a shared framework for data collection, archival description, preservation and future reuse of sensory and experiential records.
WG3 – Balancing and Aligning
WG3 is entering an active autumn period. Following a joint WG3–WG4 coordination meeting in July, further online coordination is planned. The immediate priorities are the review and selection of Conference 3 proposals, finalisation of the Sensing Kypseli workshop programme, and coordination of contributors and participants.
Explore WG3 and the Athens activities on the CitySenZ website
WG4 – Innovation and Scouting
WG4 is developing a collective debate around urban projects, artistic interventions and situated research methodologies that embrace sensory and atmospheric dimensions of place as core components. The group is currently finalising dates and venues for its workshop and conference, both planned for spring 2027.
For the forthcoming conference, participation has been secured from the Autonomous University of Madrid and the European University of Madrid. Contacts are also underway with a contemporary art centre in Madrid, with the intention of including installations, performances, concerts and other forms of artistic intervention. WG4 also joined WG3 for a coordination meeting in July, with the next joint meeting planned for late September. A WG4-focused STSM is taking place in September, with results to be shared in the next newsletter.
From the wider urban research and ambiances community
A selection of forthcoming events and new resources that may be of interest to CitySenZ members:
Placemaking Week Europe 2026
22–25 September 2026 · Wrocław, Poland
Europe’s major placemaking festival will bring together 700+ urbanists, placemakers and community leaders. The 2026 themes—building belonging, co-creation, city laboratories and resilience—have strong connections with CitySenZ interests in lived public space, participatory approaches and urban experience. The programme includes talks, workshops, city tours and hands-on activities.
Event website
European Researchers’ Night 2026
25 September 2026 · Across Europe
The European Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide public engagement initiative bringing research closer to citizens through exhibitions, experiments, games, workshops and digital activities. CitySenZ members may find it particularly relevant for science communication, citizen engagement and participatory research. The European Commission website includes a map of participating events.
Find European Researchers’ Night events
Art and Public Space, Barcelona
27 September–1 October 2026 · Barcelona, Spain
A 4.5-day programme for urban planners, cultural leaders and city officials examining how arts and culture contribute to city renewal, grassroots engagement and placemaking. Its focus on public space, cultural practice and place-based learning is particularly relevant to CitySenZ members working across urban ambiances, design and participation.
Event information
Utopian Hours – International Festival of City Making
16–17 October 2026 · Turin, Italy
Two days of keynotes, panels and workshops focused on the future of cities. Themes include placemaking, experimental architecture, data urbanism, urban ecology, climate adaptation, social innovation and urban AI, offering several points of connection with CitySenZ’s interdisciplinary agenda.
Festival website
New resource: International Ambiances Network
Ambiances 2024 Conference Proceedings now available online
Published July 2026
The International Ambiances Network has announced the online publication of 320 papers from the 2024 International Congress on Ambiances. The redesigned HAL collections now bring together 790 open-access papers from five editions of the AMBIANCES conferences (2008–2024), in several languages and across a wide range of topics related to ambiances. This is a particularly relevant research resource for the CitySenZ community.
Access the announcement and proceedings information
Share your news with CitySenZ
We encourage Working Groups and CitySenZ members to send us material for future newsletters, including:
- Recent or forthcoming Working Group activities;
- STSMs, workshops, conferences and training activities;
- new publications and research outputs related to CitySenZ;
- calls for papers, events and opportunities relevant to the Action;
- projects, exhibitions, fieldwork and other activities connected with architectural and urban ambiances.
