Kate McLean-MacKenzie is creating an atlas of the world’s urban “smellscapes”.
She is a designer and researcher at the University of Kent.
McLean-MacKenzie began the project after noticing smell was missing from how we share experiences.
Images and sounds are easily recorded, but smells are rarely documented.
Her work involves “smell walks”, where participants record scents, intensity, emotion, and memories.
The results are turned into visual maps and cultural narratives.
Since 2011, she has mapped more than 40 locations worldwide.
These include cities such as Paris, Kolkata, Kyiv, and Glasgow.
The maps capture fleeting moments rather than fixed realities.
They show how smells drift, change, and disappear.
McLean-MacKenzie believes the atlas could become a historical record of urban life.
She also hopes it encourages people to engage more fully with their surroundings.
Smells, she says, differ by culture, climate, and personal experience.
Her message is simple: slow down, be curious, and take a sniff.
