Designing Public Spaces for Neurodiversity

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The project 'Neuro Diverse City' is focusing on reimagining New York City's public spaces like streets, playgrounds, and plazas to better accommodate neurodiversity. Currently, public spaces are designed in a generic, one-size-fits-all manner, which can be passive and not considerate of diverse neuro needs.

A few years back, journalist Lauren Ober was diagnosed with autism. She then made a podcast about her experience called The Loudest Girl in the World. And she found herself imagining a fantasy world where everything is tailored to Lauren’s very specific autistic needs. And she called this magical imagined place, wonderfully devoid of overwhelming stimuli "Autism Pleasantville."

"Obviously," Ober notes, "there’s not a one-size fits all diagnosis or even definition of autism ... as the autism adage goes: 'If you know one autistic person…you know one autistic person.' But despite our wide variety of needs, I wanted to know how design is evolving to better accommodate us" -- how were ideals being handled in the real world.

Autism Pleasantville