Dr Kate McLean-MacKenzie wants smells to be shared like images and sounds.
The designer and researcher at the University of Kent is publishing an atlas of urban “smellscapes”.
Her interest began 15 years ago, after noticing smell was largely absent from communication.
Photos and audio are easy to share, but scents are rarely recorded or mapped.
McLean-MacKenzie asks volunteers to take guided “smell walks” through cities.
Participants note scent type, strength, duration, emotion, and personal associations.
She then turns this subjective data into visual maps and cultural narratives.
The project focuses on stories and meaning, not scientific precision.
Since 2011, she has mapped 40 locations, including Paris, Glasgow, Kyiv, and Kolkata.
The work challenges the idea that humans have a weak sense of smell.
The maps capture fleeting moments, shaped by weather, place, and time.
McLean-MacKenzie hopes they become historical records of how cities once smelled.
She also wants people to engage more deeply with their surroundings.
Smell, she says, encourages empathy and awareness of different lived experiences.
