Contextual components of the two cases

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It is easier to perceive more and stronger smells in an environment with a higher temperature, because when the temperature increases, it accelerates the molecular movement of odours (Schiffman and Williams 2005). Henshaw (2013: 25) also emphasizes the function of the trigeminal nerves in the nose, which includes sensing changes of temperatures and smells.

When the temperature is too low outside, people will not be able to smell properly. It was found in both study cases that when there was a significant change of temperature, people immediately felt a change in their perceptions of smellscape. Generally, people tended to prefer a cooler environment associated with freshness.

5.2.4 Contextual components of the two cases

As set out in the introductory Chapter, there is a big difference between public transport systems in UK and China, which are influenced by the cultural, social and geographical background and, have effects on designs of stations, people’s travel habits and timetabling.

Comparing people’s perceptions of the smell environment in the two cases, four contextual components emerged as influencing people’s experiences: security control in stations, travel habits, cleaning frequency and public smoking policy.

Security control in stations

Unlike UK, security has always been a serious issue in transit spaces in China. Security control is an important part of transit spaces in China, and can be found in all kinds of stations, such as bus stations, underground stations and railway stations, as shown by the example in Figure 5.16. In railway and bus stations, people are not allowed to get onto

platforms until fifteen minutes before departure and access to platforms is controlled. For these reasons, many people prefer waiting close to the platform entrances inside the consourse or outside at the waiting space on West Square near the security control points.

Figure 5.16 People queuing for security check outside the Wuchang Railway Station Concourse

Security controls in Wuchang limit people’s flexibility and choices in using spaces. By comparison, in Sheffield people have much more freedom and flexibility in choosing places for waiting, and so they have more opportunities for experiencing better smellscapes than people in Wuchang Railway Transit Centre:

‘Often, I will come earlier to pass the security check. I am quite afraid there might be many people queuing. After the security check, I’d prefer waiting inside the concourse to make sure I don’t miss my train. ( )

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Travel habits

Another big contrast found between Wuchang and Sheffield was the number of people waiting in the buildings. The general smell environment in Wuchang, much influenced by people’s activities, is partly results from people’s travel experiences andhabits. In China, people have a preconception that they are likely to miss their trains or buses because of traffic congestion and the long queues for security checks. They feel more comfortable if they can arrive at stations at least one hour before the train departure time. Some people even go to the station three or four hours before the train or bus departure to make sure they do not miss the train or bus. For example, one participant described this situation:

‘Many people would come to station two hours earlier or more…It is true that queues for security checks are always long, which makes people worry about missing their trains. Actually, half an hour is enough. People always worry too much and come early just in case unexpected things happen. (

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A long time spent waiting in the station will involve more waiting activities, influencing the overall smell environment, particularly, eating. People in the Wuchang case, people normally will have their ‘travel foods’ with them when waiting, i.e. instant noodles and Zhou Hei Ya.

Such food can be eaten anywhere anytime in the station, producing smells across the space.

This is a marked contrast with the UK, where most people arrive at the station only fifteen minutes before the departure time. This results in fewer people waiting in the station and fewer waiting activities, resulting in lower influence on the overall smell environment in urban intermodal transit spaces.

Responding to people’s travel habits, the concept of designing stations in China is

‘accommodating’ rather than ‘efficiency’ as in the UK. In this sense, the different design concepts result in the functional diversity and spatial difference of stations. Different concepts of designing stations also lead to different development around the station. Such

differences in physical environmental settings also result in differences in the smell environment, as discussed earlier.

Cleaning frequency

The management of stations can make a significant difference to the smellscapes in intermodal transit spaces. In particular, the management of waste directly influences people’s experiences of smellscape pleasantness, like clean up trash bins, managed food waste and well-maintained toilets. Poor management of waste in Wuchang had a negative effect on particpant’s evaluations of the smellscape. For example:

‘I can smell some rubbish. It is not pleasant. Smells of rubbish can disperse around quickly outdoors. I think they should have some covered trash bins. Actually, if they cleaned it more frequently, it won’t be a problem. ( ()

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) )’ W16

Creating a clean and inviting environment can increase people’s perception of the pleasantness of the general smellscape in intermodal transit spaces. For example, in Sheffield Railway Concourse, most participants described the atmosphere as inviting and welcoming, which had a positive influence on their evaluations of smellscape within it. The station authority has put a lot of effort to manage the environment in the Concourse:

‘A lot of things we have to have in the concourse, such as information screens, timetables and leaflets. All the things that you expect to find in a railway station. We also get plants in and hanging baskets of plastic flowers in. Although you can’t smell the plastic flowers, it looks nice. So, what we are trying to do is to make it welcoming and bright. Coz, we’ve got lots of glass in the roof which is nice, particularly on sunny days, you gets really warm in here, it is good for my plants as well. But, yeah, we get lots of customers, particularly, customers who don’t live in Sheffield to say that this is one of their favourite stations, they love the concourse because it is nice and bright, clean. We are just trying our best to accommodate people.’ S11

Public smoking policy

Cigarette smoke was frequently detected and found to influence people’s evaluations of smellscapes in both cases. Public smoking can cause social segregation in public spaces (Tan 2013). China and UK both have a large population of cigarette smokers. Smoking indoors in public spaces has been banned in England since the Health Act 2006, including pubs and restaurants, which has resulted changes to the smellscapes of public spaces. For example, Henshaw (2013: 119-124) discusses the change of smellscapes in pubs before and after smoking ban: smokers after the ban starts to line up the streets outside pubs, making sounds and smells of cigarette smoke mixed with alcohol.

Public smoking was banned in China according to the Ministry Health guidelines published in 2011. However, no effective controls had been enforced. Recently, this has been turned into a law (June 2015) to ban smoking indoors in all public places, including offices, restaurants and hotels. The local authorities in Beijing have taken action in responding to this legislation, by publishing a set of fines for breaking the smoking law and putting up smoking ban signs in public spaces. However, in the Wuchang case, smoking was found almost everywhere, particularly dominant on West Square and the underground waiting area, which was negatively perceived by participants. In Sheffield, people were annoyed by others smoking by the entrance to the railway concourse, on railway platforms and Sheaf Square. In intermodal transit spaces, smoking outdoors where people gather and wait can cause equally negative impacts on people’s assessment of the pleasantness of a smellscape. Many commented that smoking in public spaces should be banned, not only indoors but also outdoors, at least in places where there are large numbers of people, such as the Squares in front of stations:

‘I think they might be trying to remove smells from the space rather than adding. Like, people are not allowed to smoke indoors to make sure that we have a better air quality. In Switzerland, we have laws to ban smoking outdoors as well in public spaces for people to have a cleaner and better air.’ S14

5.2.5 Summary

Components emerged in the Sheffield case and Wuchang case have sketched out a picture of smellscape in intermodal transit spaces from smells and smell sources, individual, contextual and physical environmental aspects. Within the context of intermodal transit spaces, there are many common smellscape components in two cases, i.e. types of smells, layout of space and public smoking, etc. However, there are also distinct features of smellscape composition in each case, i.e. smells of nature in the Sheffield case and smells of people and food in the Wuchang case. Such differences are grounded in the context of intermodal transit space within each country, as discussed in section 5.2.4. These contextual components generated very smellscape compositions. However, the way participants perceive the smell environment in two cases showed much in common. The next section will discuss on how people perceive the smellscape components.