This study was mainly initiated by the realization that human and space are two interdependent entities, sharing a dynamic relation. The city, the urban landscape can affect the phycho- emotional processes happening inside us, in absentia, without us even realizing, in the hustle of everyday life. But also in reverse, the thoughts, memories and emotions of ours are constantly projected in our environs transfusing them with a new meaning, a new ambiance.
This research attempts to analyze the process of meandering, as a means of understanding the urban realm, through it’s historical and theoretical studies. The different meanings attributed to the definition of ambulation, throughout the years, and in which conditions it happens, are thoroughly analyzed. Important focus of this research is the flâneur of the 19th century, as he is described in the scripts of Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, up until his evolutionthroughout the artistic innovations of the 20th century.
Important element in this study, is the realization of the imprint of the ambulation experience through Psychogeography. The city, a space defined as public, never seizes to be a deeply personal one, as our existence and life are strongly connected with it. This way, by documenting the structured environment, without abiding the conditions of the conventional mapping, the production of ideas and thoughts, considering the synthesisof the urban space, becomes possible. The concept of Psychogeography, as it will be analyzed, reveals useful outputs, considering the recasting and possible future interventions in the modern city. Important examples, experiments, maps and compositions of the 20th century, that made this analysis possible, are presented. This research continues with the presentation of the evolution of ambulation and mapping, as they were evolved throughout the 21st century, while the apparition of new urban models and technical - audiovisual means emerged, and indicated new ways of ambulation that enriched the psychogeographic procedure.
The research process is completed with the analysis of an example of a flâneur of the Hellenic area: the figure of rebetis. His characteristics are being examined, as well as the areas, in which he mostly lived and interacted with the urban space. In conclusion, and with the aid of all the theoretical background that was studied, my own personal meandering in the trails of rebetis is being held and documented, so that I might be able to determine how the public space interacts with it’s user.