Commercial ambiances and atmospheres. Explorations of the sensory dimension of retail in urban space

This article focuses on the sensory quality of the urban environment under the influence of retail trade. It proposes a rapprochement between the geography of retail trade and research in the field of ambiances and atmospheres, and outlines three resulting research perspectives for the geography of retail trade. The first concerns the material dimension of retail facilities and the contribution of the notion of ambiance to characterising the impact of the material dimension on the qualities of the reception and the uses of public space. The following perspective looks at commercial spaces as objects of ordinary aesthetics. By drawing on the notions of atmosphere and ambiance, it aims to understand how and under what conditions users experience space through aesthetic attention. The third perspective addresses the role of atmospheres in analysing the emergence of a sense of community in commercial spaces.