Abstract
After the flood disaster of July 2021, the Ahrtal is seemingly exclusively linked to it. The mass media representation of the place can be recognized as morally charged; the representation of the landscape characterized by destruction. Assuming this interpretation of this space, this article attempts to answer the question of how the flood-affected place of Altenahr affects individual experience and to what extent this experience challenges the narrative of Altenahr as a place of disaster. With the method of a phenomenological walk, it was investigated how the perception of the physical structures of Altenahr is experienced by visiting persons. For this purpose, a framework of constructivist landscape theory, phenomenology, and the concepts of atmospheres and hybridity will be applied. The empirical results will be related back to the framework, thus demonstrating the complexity of landscape synthesis and highlighting the added value of phenomenology as an approach to landscape via the multisensory experience of being-in-the-world to support the description of physical space referred to as landscape/place beyond complexity-reducing stereoty**. This seems to be especially applicable for the investigation of disaster places, since they are highly emotionally charged and involve diverse unexpected constellations of phenomena.
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Fischer, J.D., Mahler, M. (2023). Multisensory Approaches to a Disaster Place?—A Phenomenological Walk Through Altenahr After the Flood Disaster. In: Koegst, L., Kühne, O., Edler, D. (eds) Multisensory Landscapes. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40414-7_11
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