Sensibilities to the test of the Anthropocene – SENSIBILIA

The goal of this project is to test the various sensitive paradigms focused on the contemporary experiences and transformations of inhabited environments regarding the issue of Anthropocene (approaches in terms of ambiance, landscape, environmental aesthetics, milieu, atmosphere, éco-somatic, urban poetic). What about the heuristic power and operational potential of such approaches in terms of socio-ecological issues? We hypothesize that the question of sensitivity is particularly relevant for thinking about current and future changes in our living environments. From this point of view, sensitivity is not a simple passive reception but rather a power of intensification and transformation of our relation to the world. One of the advantages of sensitive approaches is to bring the question of the Anthropocene to the level of everyday situations, to bring it to life on a daily basis and to embed it in our most ordinary practices, gestures and experiences. Three axes will structure the research: 1) a reasoned collective mapping of sensitive approaches with regard to socio-ecological issues. We will clarify this field of research and action by highlighting the filiations, the positions and the overlaps of each tradition of thought; 2) research seminars which update and debate the respective contribution of each approach. We will reveal the resources of sensitive approaches by discussing a set of riddles to explore and to articulate with specific projects (cf. axe 3); 3) an experimental and filmic test, on the Grenoble site, of the operational potential of the various approaches studied. We will rely on five concrete and situated projects to test and put multi-partner collaborations to work. This research will be based on close collaboration between the UMR AAU-Cresson team and the UMR PACTE-Environment team. It will be an opportunity to activate and strongly mobilize the French and international partners present within our networks (in particular the International Ambiances Network and the research group on environmental humanities). This project aims to contribute to a fundamental questioning on the transformations of the attention paid to current changes in living environments. Our purpose is to test the way in which urban societies can participate in raising awareness and empowering residents and public authorities with regard to sustainable development. The purpose is to highlight the urban conditions for adapting to future changes and to question the socio-ecological transition in innovative terms, based on a sensitive approach.