Debord’s “Theory of the Dérive” (1956; reprinted 1958) sets out the dérive as a method of drifting through urban space to encounter “varied ambiences.” It asks participants—ideally small groups—to suspend routines and navigational goals, letting the city’s psychogeography guide movement. The dérive is playful yet analytic: a way to register how streets, architectures and flows of people shape emotion and behaviour, and to map those effects beyond conventional cartography. Debord frames it as both research and critique of everyday life, a precursor to “unitary urbanism” and the creation of situations that disrupt passive consumption of the city and spectacle.

Source:BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS