Blog

Research led by  Associate Professor Kathi Holt­ Damant, Dr Mirko Guaralda, and Associate Professor Barbara Adkins;  Queensland University of Technology.

Our cities are designed to gather for the needs of the average person. While urban design takes into consideration most evident forms of differences (for example, vision and mobility), a strategy to promote a democratic and inclusive environment has not been widely proposed for open spaces. For some navigating the urban environment can be challenging like navigating an impenetrable jungle.

Many people with disabilities are neuro diverse, i.e. their sensory needs are very different from the general population in the way information about space is processed through language, sound, images, light, texture, taste and movement. It is assumed this is a situation that challenges only a fraction of Australian population, but the way we process information changes in time; older people generally lose skills in perceiving contrast, in seeing in reduced light, and in smell and taste; they may have decreased hearing, and experience changes in balance and equilibrium. In manycases older people face the same challenges of neurodiversity.

This paper documents a pilot project developed with the support of Logan City Council and engaging

candidates within the Master of Urban design at the Queensland University of Technology This preliminary investigation discusses the relationship between neurodiversity and the built environment.

Meet Joe – he is not drunk or on drugs; he is not hallucinating; he experiences neurodiversity. To Joe, a student of journalism at university, Queen Street Mall is more like an urban jungle than a well-designed public place – a

place to be avoided at all costs.