Sensing Tranquility. Spaces for Tranquility - an Atmospheric approach

Abstract: This thesis attempts to introduce tranquility as a spatial concept and to develop first hypotheses intoits application within Urban Studies by the application of an experiential theoretical andmethodological framework. In order to comply with this objective, three existing fields of research(Restorative Environments, Calm Technology, Stillness) are presented as orientating spatial notionsthat are akin to tranquility. Subsequently, the research field around atmospheres is introduced as atheoretical and a methodological framework working at the grounds of the executed investigations.These took place in two places within Malmö: a silent after-work concept called Tyst Off the Workand a resting room, referred to as Vilrum, in one of the buildings of Malmö University.Autoethnographical accounts of the two cases are brought forward in the form of micrologies andsubsequently interpreted. The thesis concludes with three hypotheses about the rationale aroundtranquility in the investigated cases: the understanding of tranquility as a rest between productiveaction, the affective impact of the public-private setting as exclusive, and a tendency towardsstandardized notions of tranquility.