Speaker
Description
Seeing autism as a natural variation of human beings, the emerging paradigm of neurodiversity seeks recognition of difference for its community. In its struggle for justice, the neurodiversity paradigm needs to rely on a theoretical spatial framework to assert its ‘right to the city’. The question that arises here is how urban planning theory, as the field concerned with the materiality of the built environment, can inform neurodiversity in its pursuit of spatial justice. Conducting an interdisciplinary scoping review, this study intends to identify research gaps by exploring the literature on autism and the built environment. The results of the review suggest that there exists a theoretical gap in the neurodiversity paradigm in relation to spatial justice and the rights of the autistic community to the urban built environment. The study posits that urban planning theory has the potential to provide the neurodiversity paradigm with a spatial theoretical framework to exercise the right of the neurodivergent community to the city. Although the primary audience of this study is academics working at the intersection of autism and the built environment, the results are deemed helpful for interdisciplinary practitioners and policymakers aiming to promote inclusive urban spaces.
| Keywords | Autism; neurodiversity; built environment; urban planning; difference, spatial justice |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
