Leisure mobilities, shopping routes and sensescapes: youth in the city centre of Utrecht

Abstract

This paper analyses embodied experiences of leisure shoppers combining walking and cycling practices in historical city centres. From the perspective of youth, embodied practices and experiences along the Oude Gracht street, an important shopping route in the city centre of Utrecht, are investigated. Based on walk-along interviews with pedestrians and seated interviews with cyclists, the paper reveals leisure shopping as a multimodal exercise with interrelated practices and experiences of walking and cycling. It also unravels shopping routes as arrangements of various sensescapes. They are described by youth ‘in motion’ and en route along the Oude Gracht as (1) calm and beginning, (2) chaos and vehicles, (3) crowding and many choices, (4) crossing and street sellers, (5) chaos and tourists, and (6) cafes and ending. The fluid divisions and connections of these scapes are accompanied by physical and social objects–such as motorized vehicles, a cinema or shop, a large crowd, and street vendors–often generating a switch in the type of walking and cycling. By looking at youth’s practices and experiences, sensescapes appear to be relational in space and time, exposing the complexity of fluid divisions and connections when performing leisure mobilities along shopping routes in city centres.