Affective atmospheres in Macau: From the sublime to the uncanny

Abstract

This article examines the atmospheric identity of the Chinese city–state of Macau, which has a distinctive urban charisma owing to its 500-year history as a Portuguese colony and its contemporary development into a global tourist site. By analysing visual ethnographic data, the research understands Macau’s urban space with attention to its affective atmospheres. The research explores how visual analysis of urban atmospheres may enhance understanding of a city’s atmospheric identity. The article analyses the sublime and uncanny as two complementary affective fields exemplified by two unconventional locales: the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the adjacent Chinese Special Economic Zone of Hengqin Island. The article demonstrates that visual analysis of affective atmospheres can be instrumental in describing how people, emotions, objects and environments are reconstituted in a continuous process of urban change and development.