Situational Atmospheres

Abstract

This chapter examines how placemaking and filmmaking can improve teaching urban design-based situations of atmospheres. The qualitative-deductive form of content analysis addresses atmospheres in four Egyptian and American films and thus creates a conceptual framework for design strategy in studio of urban design. In this chapter, the authors discuss this framework with regard to the works of the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. They show that filmmaking and placemaking are similar in the intellectual discourse because both produce ideas, themes, and events together with architectural elements and experience of everyday life. The findings highlight the impact of local architecture on the quantitative and nonquantitative factors that create affective atmospheres. The theoretical argument proved that the process of filmmaking could constitute a method for teaching in urban design studios and urban design history. The conclusion gives an action plan to use cinematic works as a tool for enhancing teaching affective atmospheres in urban-design studios.