Psychogeography

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Situationist Aesthetics: The SI, NowUniversity of Sussex8 June 2012

My Name is Tina and I'm a PsychogeographerSituating the Addictions and Abuses of Urban Walking Today

Tina RichardsonUniversity of Leeds

Why did the psychogeographer cross the road?

The Problems of Psychogeography

Does psychogeography's vagueness mean it will always escape rigid definitions?

What might the impact be of an increase in popularity of psychogeography?

How long can it evade being co-opted and keep ahead of a potential 'psychogeography industry'?

Psychogeography for the SI

The study of the specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.

[the] active observation of present-day urban agglomerations

cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.

[A psychogeographer is] One who explores and reports on psychogeographical phenomena.

(Situationist International)

An urban walk does not a psychogeographer make...

Summer 2011 in Holbeck, Leeds

This area of Leeds is in the process of being pulled down to make way for the extended Holbeck Urban Village project.

It has momentarily come to a halt because the council ran out of money.

Positive aspects providing an awareness of:

How the built environment impinges on the aesthetics of everyday life

The encroachment of private space into public space

The politico-economics of space e.g. uneven development under capitalism

The importance of the body being used, in conjunction with space, as a form of protest

How psychogeographers can work with urban planners to help facilitate more conducive living-working environments

The potential value of discussions on community in regards to a sense of place

Forms of Psychogeography

Deep Topography

Nick Papadimitriou and John Rogers

Mythogeography

Phil Smith aka the Crab Man

Googling Schizocartography

Falling Victim to Consumerism Unethical organisations can align themselves with

psychogeographers under the guise of appearing to address local issues

It can be used to appease communities and/or pressure groups

Organisations can add it to their 'CV' in the same way they do with Corporate Social Responsibility

It opens the floodgates to a potential 'bandwagon' of spurious psychogeographers

The cheapening or diluting of the term 'psychogeography'

The capitalist machine hijacks it by applying it to consumer products in order to exploit its commercial potential

A consumerist, watered-down, co-opted version of psychogeography goes against the basic principles of a critique of the spectacle

The Twelve Step Programme