On Monday, 8 December 2025, 4:15–6:30 pm, Prof. Dr. Arto K. Haapala will give his Fellow Lecture on the topic of “Expanding the Scope of Everyday Aesthetics: Possibilities and Threats of Digitalization in Experiencing the Everyday” (venue: Room 201, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster).

Everyday aesthetics is a new area in philosophical aesthetics. It is only in the past twenty years that everyday aesthetics has established a place as one of the relevant and noteworthy fields in philosophical aesthetics. My take in the aesthetic character of the everyday is to point out that the very mundane human existence, the very basic characteristics of our being-in-the-world have an aesthetic character.

Urban environments are rich in aesthetic features; they are almost like works of art, requiring consideration and knowledge to be comprehended. Urban environments are also everyday living environments. They both exhibit traditional aesthetic qualities such as beauty and grandeur and serve also as the basis for our most mundane activities and routines. In this way they exemplify stability, reliability and familiarity which constitute the aesthetic character of the everyday.

It is undeniable that digitalization has changed our everyday experiences and our everyday environments – urban environments included – considerably. Most of us live in a physical environment and in a virtual environment at the same time. Digitalization is in many cases an extension of our senses, but it is also an easy route to information needed at a particular moment. In many cases this makes the human everyday richer; there are more possibilities for us to see, hear and learn. The danger is that the more concrete physical surroundings get less attention. We are, in the end, physical creatures living in concrete environments.

In this presentation I take a few steps towards pointing out and understanding the changing nature of our digitalized everyday environment and the relevance of aesthetic considerations in the change.

Prof. Dr. Arto K. Haapala is Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Helsinki (Finland). He is the President of the board of the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics based in Lahti and in Helsinki. His research topics include philosophy of literature, Martin Heidegger’s philosophy, environmental aesthetics, especially aesthetics of urban environments, and everyday aesthetics.