Faces and facial presence in urban space

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of literature exploring the complex relationship between faces and urban spaces. It begins by examining works that have considered the face in relation to the city – moving beyond its conventional metaphorical use – to reveal how individual faces become emblematic of broader social and cultural identities within urban environments. This review is structured into three main sections. First, it outlines the state of the art regarding the depiction and significance of faces in urban spaces, drawing on examples from popular culture and historical precedents such as photographic portraits and urban art. Second, it delves into the semiotic and cultural-geographical dimensions of the face, analysing how faces function as texts that convey meaning, shape identity and mediate interpersonal interactions. Here, the discussion highlights concepts like the “facesphere” and the interplay between natural, represented and digital faces. Third, this chapter shifts focus to the urban landscape itself, considering cities as dynamic texts that embody layers of cultural, political and economic meanings. This dual focus on the face and the city underscores their mutual influence, illustrating how urban spaces are not only physical but also repositories of symbolic expressions and collective memory. By synthesising insights from semiotics, cultural geography and emerging digital trends, this chapter lays the conceptual groundwork for the theoretical and methodological framework developed in subsequent chapters.