The dominance of sight in built environmental design and management is well documented with smell overlooked by built environment professionals, considered of primarily negative influence upon experience and perception. However odour has special characteristics, retained in memory longer than visual images, and can transport people back through space and time through recollection and association. As a result, it has an important role to play in urban place experience. Few dedicated studies have examined the role of smell in environmental experience and perception. As a result, important questions are raised: What odours are commonplace in contemporary urban environments? How are they perceived? What is the relationship between odour and place perception and experience? What tools are available when designing olfactory environments? What are the ethical implications when doing so? Drawing on evidence from smellwalks and semi-structured interviews with fifty-two professionals, licensees, community representatives and business people in Doncaster, accompanied by data involving eighty-two residents, collected in Manchester, Sheffield and Clerkenwell, London by the Vivacity2020 Project, smell is argued highly influential in place experience and perception. This empirical study is one of the first to evidence odour perception as related to place perception with individuals playing an active role in perception according to past experiences and olfactory perceptual state. A potentially positive role for odour is identified in restorative experiences of the city, gained from natural and non-natural sources. A range of tools are introduced, assisting in designing with odour without reliance upon scenting practices, themselves identified problematic due to perceived physical and psychological reactions. Through adopting a pragmatic approach to findings, where experiences of odour are considered on a site by site basis and within the context of local stakeholder engagement, a new model is proposed by which olfactory design can be incorporated into everyday urban design decision making processes.

The thesis was conducted as the master thesis for a Master's in innovation and design. The aim of this thesis was to investigate in what ways scent can be used as an olfactory stimulation within exhibitions and to access the possible effects that occur from bridging historical contexts with scent within the exhibitions – as a tool for embodied storytelling. The olfactory study focuses on Leksmedjan Smetuna in Rademachersmedjorna, Eskilstuna. The thesis theoretical framework presents theories on sense of smell, museum experiences, storytelling, and embodied storytelling. A space analysis and a qualitative interview with a museum pedagogue at Västermanland´s county museum. An observational smellscape with different scented elements is conducted as well, with visiting children at Leksmedjan Smetuna in Rademachersmedjorna – where children get the chance to experience historical scents from the 17th century, through their sense of smell. This with the aim to visualize the physical-, emotional- and social effects that occur during children´s sensory museum experiences. The scented elements for the observational smellscapes were designed and produced during the thesis design process and are based on theoretical and empirical data collection. The results of the thesis bring forth important perspectives regarding children´s sensory museum experiences that incorporate scented elements. / Examensarbetet genomförs som ett examensarbete för en Master i innovation och design. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka på vilka sätt doft kan användas som luktstimulering inom utställningar, samt att visualisera möjliga effekter som uppstår genom att överbrygga historiska sammanhang med hjälp av doft inom utställningar – som ett verktyg för embodied storytelling. Doftstudien fokuserar på Leksmedjan Smetuna i Rademachersmedjorna, Eskilstuna. Studiens teoretiska ramverk presenterar teorier om människans luktsinne, museiupplevelser, storytelling med en fördjupning av embodied storytelling. Studiens empiriska metodarbete utgörs av en rumsanalys och en kvalitativ intervju med en museipedagog på Västermanlands länsmuseum. Metodarbetet inkluderar även en observerande smellscapes med besökande barn på Leksmedjan Smetuna i Rademachersmedjorna, Eskilstuna – där barnen får chansen att uppleva historiska dofter från 1600-talet, genom sitt luktsinne. Detta i syfte att visualisera de fysiska-, emotionella- och sociala effekterna som uppstår under barns sensoriska museiupplevelser av studiens doftelement. Doftelementen som ingår i studiens observerade smellscapes, designades och producerades under studiens designprocess och baseras på den teoretisk och empirisk datainsamling. Studiens resultat lyfter fram viktiga perspektiv på barns sensoriska museiupplevelser som innehåller doftelement.