1st Edition

Scented Spaces Creating Smellscapes in Artistic and Architectural Practices

By Jieling Xiao Copyright 2026
204 Pages 43 Color & 25 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

204 Pages 43 Color & 25 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

204 Pages 43 Color & 25 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book explores the overlooked role of smell in architecture, design, and urban life, positioning olfaction as a powerful medium for shaping place, atmosphere, and experience. Beginning with the concept of the “scentsphere,” it establishes how smells carry cultural memory, therapeutic potential, and behavioural influence, reframing them as active agents in how environments are felt and... Read more

Foreword – Anna Barbara

Introduction

1. Scents of place

2. Creating smell-spatial narratives

3. Materialising smellscapes

4. Case studies

5. Towards a smellscape ecology

Afterword – Suzel Balez

Biography

Jieling Xiao is Reader in Architecture and Sensory Environments at the Birmingham City University, UK. Trained as an architect and urban designer, Jieling believes that designers need to consider more than just how the hardware of architecture functions for its users. Interested in creative spatial practice related to people’s sensory experiences, she has developed her research and research-led teaching on smellscapes and soundscapes looking at theories and design frameworks that take an appreciative approach to deal with sounds and smells in the built environment. She is the lead editor of the Frontiers research topic “smell, wellbeing and built environment” and funder of the smellscape catalogue (www.smellscapecatalogue.com), a digital archive of smellscape interventions.