Kate McLean-MacKenzie is on a mission to map how cities smell.
The designer and researcher at the University of Kent says smell is the forgotten sense.
While images and sounds are easily shared, smells are rarely recorded or communicated.
That gap led her to create an atlas of urban “smellscapes”.
Her work relies on guided “smell walks”, where participants record scents and their reactions.
They note intensity, duration, emotions, and memories linked to each smell.
McLean-MacKenzie then turns the data into visual maps and cultural narratives.
She stresses the results are subjective and rooted in human experience.
Since 2011, she has mapped more than 40 locations worldwide.
These include cities such as Paris, Glasgow, Kolkata, and Kyiv.
The maps capture fleeting moments rather than permanent truths.
Smells shift with weather, movement, and time of day.
McLean-MacKenzie believes the atlas could become a historical record.
Future cities may smell very different as technology and lifestyles change.
She hopes the project encourages people to notice their surroundings more closely.
Engaging with smell, she says, can build curiosity, empathy, and understanding.
