The sweet smell of Amsterdam … and it's not just cannabis, say odour mappers

Urban smellscape researcher Kate McLean travels the world mapping scents: Edinburgh smells of the brewery and penguin poo, New York's summer is ripe with garlic and spilled beer, while Amsterdam smells of ... damp?

"It smells like Amsterdam" is a well-turned phrase. Each year, about 1.5 million tourists visit the city to legally consume cannabis in specially licensed coffee shops, and every time their doors open to welcome a new customer, a potent waft escapes with the force of a jet missile into the street.

Whatever your views on the subject, the scent of marijuana and hashish is strong. The distinctive and easily identifiable smell curls along the narrow streets of De Wallen, lingers among the pubs, clubs, bars and coffee shops of the red light district and wafts across the open expanse of Stationsplein as newcomers in transit cram in a full, enhanced, poly-sensory experience of the city.