Atmospheric urban symphonies: Collaborative video to explore and generate affective spaces in marginalized young communities

Abstract

Young people, despite their active role in urban life, have historically been excluded from urban planning processes. Integrating their everyday experiences into these processes is essential for imagining and creating more inclusive and just cities. This article introduces the concept of atmospheric urban symphonies as a methodological and epistemological framework for analyzing how collaborative video creation can evoke and transform the everyday urban experiences of young people in marginalized neighborhoods. Drawing on the concepts of affective atmospheres and Perec's notion of the infraordinary, the research presents two audiovisual projects co-created by public high school students from the Besòs-Maresme neighborhood in Barcelona. Following a collaborative research-creation methodology, the students attuned themselves to the affective, material, and sensory dimensions of their urban environment, filming, editing, and producing videos that move beyond documentation to actively shape their relationship with the city. The results highlight the transformative role of video as both a creative and critical tool, revealing how the creation of atmospheric symphonies can foster a sense of agency and belonging among participants vis-à-vis their neighborhood. The findings demonstrate the potential of art-based research as a non-representational and participatory methodology for producing situated, affective, and multisensory narratives that reconfigure how marginalized communities inhabit and generate knowledge about their urban spaces. Building on this, we argue that atmospheric urban symphonies can serve as a valuable tool for incorporating young people's voices into urban planning.