Mónica M. Degen PhD

professor-researcher-writer-advocate/consultant

sensory urbanism, urban change, aesthetics, digital/cities, public space/life

contact

The making of urban space is in many ways a materialization of the passing of time, reflecting and reifying social power relations and social dynamics of any given time in the built environment. We only have to think of the way churches, monuments or other institutions represent their social meaning through their physical presence.

( Degen 2016, 2017 )

“What mediates the relationship between buildings and people? So called ‘soft features’ such as feelings, senses and emotions to mention a few. Such understandings, perceived through our sensing bodies, punctuate our activities in cities and both provide a sense of – and are made sense over – time.”


(Degen 2025)

“A focus on the senses in the city allows us to analyse the experience of the city as a political domain that links the personal lives of its diverse populations with broader structural changes in the city’s politics and economy.”

(Degen 2014)

Research Highlights and Consultancy

The New Urban Aesthetic

Digital Experiences of Urban Change

  • Shortlisted for the Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Prize 2023
  • Analysing how cities and urban experiences are digitally mediated
  • Exploring the multiple sensory constellations in digitally mediated cities

Making Hayes

Community Voices on Celebrating and Improving Hayes Town Centre

  • Community consultation commissioned by Hillingdon Council
  • Providing a baseline study of social infrastructure provision and needs in Hayes Town with a particular focus on experiences by young people
  • Engaging 335 people through a mix of creative and experiential methods

Reimagining Uxbridge High Street

  • Commissioned by Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce
  • Experiential-emotional map of the current look and feel of Uxbridge High Street
  • Analysing the uses and experiences of 367 people (locals and visitors) of Uxbridge High Street

Voices from Uxbridge

Places and Experiences

  • Community consultation commissioned by Hillingdon Council
  • Experiential mapping of the uses, perceptions and look and feel of Uxbridge Town Centre engaging 1097 people (locals and visitors)
  • Informing the Uxbridge Town Centre Vision and Hillingdon’s new Local Plan

Sensory Smithfield

  • Collaboration with London Museum
  • Exploring Sensory Identities and Temporal Flows
  • Providing Sensory Place Making