The Dispatched Drone and Affective Distance in Fieldwork

Drone usage in urban planning is increasing. When used in fieldwork, the dispatched drone returns moving images live on-screen, implying direct sensations for the pilot/planner. This article discusses how the human body is extended by the drone with its freely moving eyeline and its vertical and horizontal rhythms. Steering via on-screen moving images – moving oneself physically to follow the drone – has direct kinesthetic and synesthetic effects on the planner. The article examines how first- and third-person perspectives are folded together, and how the interplay of gestures (vision, rhythm, motion) is central to sensation during drone filming. Thus, the article identifies how the dispatched drone stirs affections, feelings, and touch during filming as a self-affective methodology and action. It defines distance as a felt rhythm of existence—a sensation, resonance, or immediation—that is mediated by the written account. The development of this methodological approach constitutes the article’s key contribution.