Psychogeography

We are controlled by cityscapes wherever we go. The sidewalks, crosswalks, roads, inside and around buildings, escalators, elevators, parking lots and so on, there are rules everywhere in urban city landscapes for us to follow correctly. According to Guy Debord, he explained this phenomenon as Psychogeography "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Our mobility is somehow controlled as we move from one point to another and each individual chooses the way they go according to there feeling of safety, preference, familiarity, convenience, and so on. We are all conditioned to move in certain ways in urban landscapes. I walk and use the transit system to go everywhere and I noticed that I walk, stop and stand certain ways and certain places or spaces during my journey. It sometimes feels like I have arrow switches in my brain telling my Peripheral Nervous System to follow the rules correctly.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dérive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography

http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookNERV.html#Autonomic%20Nervous%20System