Bryony Roberts, an architect with WIP Collaborative, right, helps a participant use photography and objects to illustrate the experiences of navigating city spaces for a neurodiverse individual.
Photographer: Oscar B. Castillo/BloombergHow to Build a Neurodiverse City
Cities and schools are not typically designed by, or for, people with conditions such as autism.
The sounds of highway car traffic grate on most people trying to focus. But that’s particularly true for some of the students of PS112m in New York City.
“This is a school that serves students with special needs, and many of them have sensory sensitivities,” says Georgeen Theodore, founder of multidisciplinary design firm Interboro Partners. “Their playground is directly adjacent to the FDR [Drive], which is a major source of noise,” as a multi-lane highway that hugs the East River along Manhattan’s edge.