City And Ecomedia: From a Linguistic and Ocularcentric to a Sensorimotor and Material Account

Urban philosophy should move away from language-based and vision-centered models of cognition toward sensorimotor, emotional, and habitual frameworks. The paper argues that marginalizing ocularcentrism and linguistic models improves understanding of urban phenomena and enhances city design and planning. This shift, grounded in cognitive science, emphasizes emotions, habits, and sensorimotor attitudes as key to grasping the urban dimension.

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Abstract

This paper aims to frame a discussion on the philosophy of the city within the context of cognitive sciences. In the first part of the paper, we will outline the double shift from a linguistic and ocularcentric account towards a sensorimotor one; then we will defend the idea that the less you refer to language and ocularcentrism in handling the urban dimension, the better phenomena can be understood and described. More generally, we argue that the most intriguing conceptual contaminations between cognitive sciences and urban philosophies, as well as the best approach in designing and planning cities, have become attainable because of the marginalisation of language-inspired models of cognition and ocular imperialism in favour of other aspects of our phenomenal consciousness, like emotions, habits, and sensorimotor attitudes.