The Neurodiverse City

Winner, Design Trust for Public Space RFP
“The Restorative City: Building Community Wellness Through Public Space”
New York City
2021-

with Verona Carpenter Architects and AHRC NYC

The Neurodiverse City is an ongoing research and design initiative in partnership with The Design Trust for Public Space to reimagine NYC's public spaces to better support neurodiversity. Learning from the experiences and knowledge of neurodivergent self-advocates, the teams are applying learnings from participatory workshops and surveys with local community organizations to design prototypes for NYC streets and playgrounds. Ultimately, the Neurodiverse City aims to identify scalable ways of creating neuroinclusive environments in the public realm.

Through a multi-year, phased research and co-creation process with local organizations that champion neurodivergent communities, WIP is examining existing public streets and designing prototypes to make them more sensory friendly. The learnings from these prototypes will inform new guidlines to support the greatest range of physical, emotional, and neurological differences in the public realm.

In Fall 2025, WIP Collaborative installed and tested built prototypes developed through site-specific workshops with self-advocates from AHRC and collaboration with multidisciplinary design partners at Louise Nevelson Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

Fabrication: Thirdkind Studio
Plants: Landon Newton
Sound: Mischa Kuma


WIP team members:
Sonya Gimon
Lindsay Harkema
Abby Coover
Bryony Roberts
Ryan Brooke Thomas
Elsa Ponce
Sera Ghadaki
Sasha Topolnytska


Recent News:

“Inclusive public space design pilots in Lower Manhattan“ by Ilana Amselem, Architect’s Newspaper

“An Inclusive Refuge From a Hectic City“ by Ian Volner, NY Times

“How to Build A Neurodiverse City” by Alexandra Lange, Bloomberg

Photos by Katt Manzueta