This is the second in a series of short publications which seek to briefly encapsulate key agendas and thought movements that shape cities today and will have an impact on their future.

The city is a communications device. It speaks to us through every fibre of its being. The lived urban  experience comes from a circular sensory cycle. The Sensory Landscape of Cities, sees the city as  a 360-degree, enveloping, immersive experience, which has emotional and psychological impacts.  Yet we sense and understand it through increasingly narrow funnels of perception. Living in an  impoverished perceptual mindscape makes us operate with a shallow register of experience and  understanding about what is important for our cities to survive well. A greater understanding of the  importance of environmental psychology is crucial. This focuses on the interplay between people and  their surroundings and the degree to which it creates stress or feels restorative.