Abstract
This study aims to provide insight into the theoretical concepts of non-place and its impact on the human experience, particularly regarding how users navigate, interact with, and perceive public non-places. While the concept of non-place is discussed in disciplines such as architecture, anthropology, and urban planning, it remains an underdeveloped perspective in the field of interior design. This study addresses this gap by investigating the evolution of the non-place through the works of seminal authors Marc Augé and Edward Relph, as well as other contemporary theorists. Existing research describes public non-places as functional and ahistorical spaces of circulation and transaction. However, limited research exists regarding how these spaces are experienced from the internalised perspective of users, particularly through the lens of interiority.
Through a semi-systematic literature review, the study maps adjacent concepts and recurring themes that identify the theoretical development of non-place. This study incorporates grey literature, such as short stories, photography, gaming, and video essays, to capture authentic human reflections and emotional responses to non-places. This approach extends the discourse beyond academic theories and architectural and urban planning perspectives through narrative and creative expression. The narrators of these stories serve as individuals whose personal reflections illuminate the lived experience and interiority of non-place.
This dissertation discusses grey literature to gain an understanding of the concept of interiority and the human experience of public non-place. Mundane and bewildering environments are examined alongside controlled environments. Positive experiences of non-place are also highlighted through the lens of familiarity. The review commences with non-place settings and speculative environments. Alienated space, simulated space, and borrowed space are addressed to showcase human experiences across different examples.
The findings are grouped into themes that reveal that non-places provoke feelings of apprehension and anxiety, and act as disorientating functional environments. However, non-places can also elicit feelings of attachment and refuge. This study acknowledges that human experience and interiority are not always erased within non-place but can be negotiated through memory. By interpreting the findings through the lens of interiority, the research demonstrates that non-place influences individuals while also being influenced by human behaviour. The study contributes to the theoretical expansion of non-places within the interior design discipline by offering an understanding of non-places as spaces that profoundly impact the human experience.