""It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." -Audre Lorde Most buildings and cities are designed for a narrow slice of human cognition -what we call "neurotypical." Yet humanity is far more varied. Neurodiversity describes this reality: the wide range of human brains-including sensory, communication, and cognitive differences. It isn't a deficit to be "fixed," but a natural and valuable part of human variation across ages, stages, and circumstances."
"When it comes to the built environment, design profoundly shapes our daily lives-how we think (e.g., cognitive load, memory, restoration), communicate (e.g., verbal and nonverbal), and feel (e.g., safe, fearful, overwhelmed, understimulated). The physical world can enable-or inhibit-well-being. The Opportunity: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach to Design We're in a cultural moment of reckoning with how environments exclude people-physically, socially, and cognitively."
Most buildings and cities are designed for neurotypical cognition, while human brains vary widely. Neurodiversity includes autism, ADHD, synesthesia, sensory processing differences, high sensitivity, acquired neurodivergence such as PTSD and CPTSD, and neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Design of the built environment shapes thinking (cognitive load, memory, restoration), communication (verbal and nonverbal), and feeling (safety, fear, overwhelm, understimulation). The physical world can enable or inhibit well-being. Cultural awareness is increasing about how environments exclude people physically, socially, and cognitively. Social norms favoring extroversion, speed, overstimulation, and factory-style executive functioning conflict with many neurodiverse needs.
Read at Psychology Today
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