Psychogeography is "The study of specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals", according to the article Preliminary Problems in Constructing a Situation, in Situationniste Internationale No. 1 (1958).
The precise origins of psychogeography are unknown but today it is practised in the West (ie Europe and America), formally in groups or associations, sometimes consisting of just one member. Known groups, some of whom are still operating, include:
In May, 2003, psychogeographers gathered in New York for the first Psy-Geo-Conflux, an annual event dedicated to current artistic and social investigations in psychogeography. This was timed to coincide with a Talk:Cartographic Congress in Limehouse, London.
Part festival and part conference, it brings visual and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers and the public together in New York City to explore the physical and psychological landscape of the city.
In May, 2003, psychogeographers from the U.S., Canada, U.K., France and the Netherlands gathered in New York for the first Conflux.
Psychogeographers Navigate New York City's Changing Landscape by Bryan Zimmerman, Village Voice, May 7, 2003.
Some contemporary psychogeographers rely more on psychological analysis/self analysis (using the city as an emotional mnemnonic: for example, Richard Sennett), some rely more on left-communist political theory, some on conspiracy theory (imposing connections on otherwise unrelated spatial, social and political phenomena), some on geomancy.
Equally a psychogeographic report these days could be themed around whatever the "navigator" was thinking about at the time sex, football, chocolate cake, the scavenging of computer parts or a multitude of these (Visitors Guide to London).
Since the late 1970s psychogeographic analysis has become one of the cornerstones of postmodern geography and one of the hallmarks of postmodern writing on the city.
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