Hosted by the University of Bristol Senses and Sensations Research Group
Abstract: The sensory makeup of an environment can optimally support or it can hinder people’s ability to concentrate, think, work and learn, and to interact with other people. It affects people’s emotions and mood, their creativity and more generally, their health and well-being. Sensory stressors induced by poor sensory design choices are the key contributor to migraines (estimated at 90%), costing the UK population alone around 43 million days off work and education each year (Migraine Trust, 2022). In education and work environments, sensory stressors have been shown to disproportionally affect people living with neurodiverse conditions (including e.g. ASC, ADHC, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, Tourette's, OCC, depression), keeping them from performing to their real potential and even causing them to fail (e.g. Dwyer et al. 2023). Yet, current design standards do not take evidence into account that would allow designers to cater for differences between individuals in how they react to environments. Here I provide evidence that individual reactions to environments are not random but predictable, and how the investigation of the dynamics between visual perception, cognition and locomotion might help us find solutions to pressing societal issues such as reducing falls risk in an ageing population or furthering inclusion in an increasingly neurodiverse society – all by sensory sciences helping to inform design choices. I will finish my talk with an appeal that we need to work across disciplines to develop a systemic framework of Sustainable Urban and Architectural Design that is informed by sensory sciences.