The Design Trust, Verona Carpenter Architects, WIP Collaborative, and a network of disability advocates have partnered on a new initiative to reimagine New York City public spaces — streets, parks, playgrounds, plazas, and more — for neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity refers to the idea that “people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving.” Neurodivergent individuals — people whose neurology is less typical — face barriers to daily life, as most environments are not designed to support them. People with autism, dyspraxia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia, as well as mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD, are often excluded because the planning and construction of our communities does not take into account the cognitive, sensory, and social variation inherent in our neurodiverse world. Public spaces are only accessible if they can be meaningfully used by the full range of the public. 

The Neurodiverse City seeks to celebrate and support neurodiversity by building a broad-based coalition of self-advocates and partners, identifying ways to quantify and qualify neuroinclusive space, and seeking out meaningful policy change in key areas where these ideas can be scaled and broadened.