Embodied geographies of liveability and urban parks

Urban parks are currently enshrined within liveable forms of sustainable urban planning for high-density city living. This article draws on Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s idea of territory to critically explore the embodied geographies of liveability. The concept of territory draws attention to the emplacement of subjectivities constituted not only through the discursive but also the emotional and affectual forces or flows between and through bodies and proximate objects. We argue that the embodied geographies of liveability are both performed and folded through the emotional and affectual circulations flowing through the body. To investigate these performances, flows and connections, an affective mapping exercise of urban park visits was conducted with 18 apartment dwellers in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. We address the concerns about social exclusion raised by the agenda of liveable cities and how the concept of ‘territory’ offers policy-relevant conclusions.