Urban Form and Multisensory Experience: A Frequency-Based Spatial Analysis

Urban form does not only organise what is seen; it is also closely related to the physical conditions through which sound propagates, temperature distributes, airflow moves, and odour disperses, and hence to the multisensory experience of urban space. This study examines whether that multisensory experience is spatially organised in correspondence with urban form, and develops the Sensemap framework, which integrates participant-generated, location-specific sensory expressions with frequency-based quantification and composite spatial mapping, to examine this relationship empirically. Applied within the historically layered morphology of the Upper Bazaar in Bolu, Türkiye, the framework documented 1671 sensory records coded across five modalities from 54 architecture students during a structured sensewalk. The findings indicate that each of the five modalities exhibits a distinct spatial logic: visual records follow street volume and enclosure geometry; auditory records concentrate at permeable edges; olfactory records cluster at commercially active thresholds; kinaesthetic records align with topographic gradient; and tactile records refer to thermal and airflow sensations and concentrate in specific morphological conditions. At spatial thresholds, multiple modalities converge simultaneously, suggesting that multimodal concentration is associated with morphological conditions. These results suggest that multisensory experience is spatially associated with urban form across multiple sensory channels and position the Sensemap as a replicable instrument for comparative morphological research.