Sensitive City

Towards a sensitive theory of cities

The sensitive city questions how the senses give meaning to city living and how sensibility digs deeper into citizens’ imaginations. It combines two levels of understanding. First, that of the senses, which enable us to examine and emulate physical processes through new means. Second, is that of sensibility, which allows us to advance judgements and beliefs upon the outside world. Being “sensitive” is not only about dispositions that cause sentimental responses but also judgements and beliefs about merited responses that subjects entertain about the surrounding environment. The point is not simply implementing a “sentimentalist view” of cities but applying a “sensibility theory” to cities.

The senses help to capture information, but that information continues to travel; it is embodied, digested, and lived, and it is transformed into a special kind of knowledge to understand a complex aesthetic that is uniquely urban and uniquely human. This aspect is particularly evident in the suggestions proposed by the idea of the square as an empty stomach or bodies of water as connectors, a “belly” of centripetal forces, where to nurture new landscape suggestions. Evidently, the sensitive city evokes truths without asserting them completely. Arts bring the sensitive flesh, as Merleau-Ponty would say, back to the centre of new epistemic processes. The universe of stimuli that our reality offers is very rarely visible and even more rarely expressible. Where words fall short, alternative codes can help us feel that  (urban) reality is something complex, unique, and still worth exploring.

Anita De Franco

Havenstad: “The Belly of the Harbour”

in collaboration with Rebecca Wijnruit (choreographer)

The fluid aspect of the IJ, the gateway to the world,  leads the mind in Havenstad to movement and dance. The free association between the flat surface of the water with its banks leads to the image of a square with its facades. The piazza evokes looking at and showing oneself. Spiritually, the IJ thus becomes a city forum with many possibilities and with a great diversity of movements and modes of transport around which a public is formed. All those layers and more are an invitation to fantasize about life on the IJ and the city of Amsterdam.

Luc Deleu

"The port does not welcome outsiders well; its wind and its belly voraciously swallow anyone who approaches. Only by finding one's balance can one adapt to the domain of the sea that becomes a river. Where ships once sailed the wind, now towers and flags sway to its motion. Salt is just a memory now, and you are merely a crumb ready to be digested in the port's belly. On these shores, houses will rise, tall and long, filled with others who, like you, have been in its belly, which now becomes a square, an arena of peoples, no longer a cluster of goods but a ground of voices. In a thousand languages, we will give you this address to become the next morsel offered to the wind, the water, and the high walls of its shores.”

Jacopo Grilli

Havenstad exploration:

The team used dance and choreography to investigate the sensory and emotional responses to the area's vast, desolate harbor environment, shaped by water, cranes, high shores, and strong winds. The study highlighted the challenge of perceiving human scale in an industrial landscape and revealed how somatic experiences influence behavior. Metaphors played a key role, comparing the harbor’s spatial qualities to a “water square” similar to Piazza Navona in Rome and even to the human belly—an organ deeply connected to emotions—emphasizing the interplay between space, movement, and perception.

The wind played a crucial role in my dance research performance on the water. The wind brought me out of balance but also helped me find a new one. I returned inside to find peace and stability,(internalizing) despite the constant changes outside. Between the chaos of the wind, I found quiet moments of silence to catch my breath and plan my next movement. The unpredictability of the wind taught me to feel the moment, not anticipate, and react organically. The wind sometimes gave me time but also challenged me to create movement myself, Finding Moments to Look in and out The wind brought me closer to my inner world and the beauty of the surroundings. My dance became an intense and enriching experience, guided by the constant volatility of the wind.

Rebecca Wijnruit