Non-conventional Representation for Urban Design: Depicting the Intangible

The contribution presents an educational approach of representation and simulation for higher education of architecture and planning. The focus is on the representation of the quality of the intangible urban issues related to the experience of places, that is multisensory perception. Since the topic is not defined by coded approaches, as happens for instance with geometrical drawing, the authors proceeded with a trial and error process, that is an experimental procedure that involved Master of Science students. The paper presents the topic and briefly compare conventional and non-conventional representation, and presents the experience gained in architectural higher education by showing and commenting some outcomes of the course “Architectural and Urban Simulation” at Politecnico di Milano. The educational process aims at merging sensory urban design approach to the representation of the intangible elements of the urban environment, by conceiving representation as a crucial element for well focusing the subject, from the urban analysis to the final output, i.e. the design project.