During the Sensory Ethnography workshop, we were asked to walk around Elephant & Castle and record our impressions through the five senses. At first, I felt quite confused about the purpose of this task. I wasn’t sure whether I was meant to record my personal feelings, or to connect it with my own community. However, as I began walking, I realised the activity was about training our ability to observe the world through embodied experience noticing how sound, smell, texture, and movement shape the atmosphere of a place.
The environment felt cold and windy, with the rhythmic noise of buses, cars, and people passing by. I noticed red buses moving through the grey sky, and a strong smell of rubbish near the street corners. At one point, the smell of food from nearby stalls made me feel unexpectedly hungry showing how emotion and memory can be triggered by sensory cues.
Through this process, I learned how sensory ethnography allows designers to feel rather than just analyse. Even though I was unsure at first, I now understand this walk as a method for exploring belonging and identity through sensory experience. Moving forward, I want to apply this approach to my badminton community, capturing how sound, rhythm, and space shape our shared sense of energy and connection.
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