# The city as interface: What neurodivergent experiences can teach us about designing for every mind — Fatemeh Aminpour — session 2026-08-27T23:00:00.000Z → 2026-08-27T23:50:00.000Z _714 transcript lines · 150 slides_ ## Transcript Good morning, everyone. Welcome to day two. Let's call it enabled last night. To, talk more during breaks. So you're in for a fun ride today. The, there was a article in the ABC this morning talking about the fact that Australia is maybe only ten years away from completely eradicating cervical cancer. So that's twenty years ago, doctor Ian Fraser Professor Ian Frazer at the University of Queensland developed and introduced a vaccine for HPV which is for the last twenty years has been given to pretty much anyone as they become an adolescent, so 12, sort of 13 years of age, and we've now reached the point where they can see the progression of the impact of that vaccine basically eliminating cervical cancer completely within the next ten years, which as someone who's been around a lot longer than twenty years, that's incredible. Because it used to be, such a painful and disruptive and uncomfortable and invasive process previously to not avoid it. So to have a vaccine that people can take that can be given to everybody and be in a position where it's almost completely eradicated is awesome. So that's, my good news story kick us off for the day. Science, good. So, this morning though, we're going to kick off with so I saw a report, that was released earlier in the year, talking about how we design public spaces to be more neuro inclusive. And I was fascinated by it and I reached out to the, lead author of that report and asked if she would be willing to look at how the lessons from that, research could be applied more broadly to the design of all sorts of things, she kindly agreed. And she's here with us this morning. And I'd like you to, join me in welcoming Fatima to the stage. Come on up. Okay. Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure being here today. So today, I would like you I would like go through this report that Steve was actually and, see how it translates to US design. And you let me know how actually it translate. I want to start with a train trip. You know, you're catching a train from Central somewhere new, and you don't have your phone with you, it's dead. Happens to a lot of us usually. And, you know, you know your station, but sorry, your train stopped, but you don't really know the platform. And you're supposed to find the tran the platform from a bank of scrolling screen there. They are all organized based on the three line at the Yeah. The train lines. And, you don't have your phone with you, so you can't know, which trained line is that. So just say that you found the platform, you ask, from somebody in transport information, and you know, you work it out, you get to the platform, but you're not done yet. Because at this platform serves strength to several different destinations. So you're back to the scrolling screen. And guess what? There has been track work. You didn't know about. And, this is a real quote from someone in our study. The announcement about it was not intelligible to anyone. So, a train pulls in And, is it yours? You know, you only have one minute to figure out that is, you know, if it if it's your dream. And if you lose this one, the next one, you know, doesn't necessarily go to your station, and you lose around twenty minutes You and you don't have that energy. To spare. You're exhausted and there is nowhere to sit. And even if it's your train and you can't figure it out, in one minute, there is no quiet carriage on this train. And we all know what that means. Now, most of us have had a version of a back trip like this, a frustrating day on the network. But for neurodivergent people that I work with, this is not just a bad day. This is why they didn't go in the first place. Because they decided that this trip wasn't worth the cost. So, they stayed at home and missed the thing that they were traveling towards. I'm interested in that cost. A kind of cost that you can't really see. So this is not a wheelchair, This is, you you can't see, a cane. You can't see a car. It's all happening in the mind of the person. And, when you see a meltdown, you know, the emotions, it's just too late. So, So, I would like to argue today that the cities and interface and like any other interfaces, they are designed by neurotypical people. We assume that it works like the same way for everyone. But right now, for a lot of neurodevelopment users, it's not working. There is a concept in ecology called indicator species, an organism whose condition tell you something about the health of the whole system. You know, they are more sensitive to the environment. So, if they are always struggling, there is something wrong going on with the system. Not with them. So, you know, they are not a problem, they are just a signal. I want to suggest that neurodivergent people function the same way in a design environment. You know, they experience acutely the cost that poor design imposes on everyone. But just at high intensity. When a space is cognitively overwhelming, you know, it's unpredictable, it offers no way to rest, They hit the the wall fast, and the hardest, but the wall is there for everyone. You have you have probably designed for h ks. You know, the one with the slow Internet, the one with smaller screen, one who doesn't read the instruction. So what we what we tend to call age cases, are those users whose need make the system's assumptions more visible. Neurodivergent people do the same. For cognitive and sensory design. So when, when we are designing for them, we are actually designing for a for a whole range of how human minds work. We are not just designing for a minority. Okay. And there there are a lot of them. Current estimates suggest around one in five people are neurodivergent. And the number is going not because something is going wrong with you know, with us, it's just because we are finally getting better at something that has been always there. And, this means in Greater Sydney, we around one million neurodivergent people. Okay. So, I'll just give you a brief overview of what we did in this study, and then I'll go through the findings. We wanted to know what neurodivergent adults were managing the city, you know, how they manage the city in real time, in real places. So, we asked 15 neurodivergent adults to take us on walking tours, you know, in areas that were meaningful to them within the City Of Sydney local government area. And, we asked them to, talk about these spaces you know, what's going what works well, what doesn't work well, And, we had two interviewees, one autistic, and one with ADHD. So one was, you know, exceptionally good listener. The other one made sure that nobody ran out of things to say. So, some participants were quite verbal, You know, they were detailed, they were precise, literally unstoppable, They could tell you exactly what's going on with an intersection from three different points of view. And with historical context sometimes. Others couldn't easily express themselves. But they could show us, you know, this working format made it made those experiences visible. Okay. So let me tell you what we found. When neurodivergent people, navigate a city like Sydney, they are not simply just going somewhere from a to b. They're managing three overlapping demands. Usually simultaneously and continuously. And I want to I want to walk through each of those in order that you usually meet on a single trip. And let's watch how this stack. K? It starts before you've gone anywhere. You know. Just say that you need to go to get something new, somewhere unfamiliar, as part of the city. How would you navigate if you don't have your Google Maps with you? This city offers some way finding infrastructure. Like static maps like this one. But there is a problem with that. They assume you can hold a sequence of the steps in your head, and execute them as you're actually managing a live environment at the same time. For many neurodivergent people, that assumption simply doesn't hold. What works instead is continuous real time feedback. Like an arrow on your Google Maps that updates as you go. Because here is what we learn about how neurodivergent people actually navigate. One participant told us, if I read a map, I wouldn't remember. I have to keep referring to what's on the map. All my sensory intake is slower than everybody else. And street names. Largely useless. You know, if you think visually landmarks. One participant described it beautifully, you know, the path reveals itself, slowly it comes up. Which raises a fair question about why so much of our wayfinding infrastructure is designed around things that doesn't work, like street names, like abstract maps. And so little around the things that actually work. Like landmarks. Now, imagine that you arrived, you know, the financial district say, and you're standing in, and I'm quoting a participant here, a weird bunch of building that doesn't have anything written on them. So, the signage is poor, the buildings look the same, and your phone tells you that you're here, but here looks identical to there. So what's the cost? Many of our participants did extensive research before they've gone anywhere. You know, they researched their route, they researched the entrances, they checked Google Maps images, to get familiar with the building. Like, forty you know, they spend forty five minutes of preparation, to avoid to avoid a wrong turn. That could actually cost us two days of recovery. From getting lost. I'm not exaggerating, I'm just quoting participants. So how would that translate to UX design? A static map, in a city is similar to the onboarding process that gives you all information at once, and assumes that you can actually hold it. You know, you can remember it all. Or the interface that shows you where you are, but not what to do next. And the system that, you know, hands you a whole map but, what you need is just a single signal saying this way. So, good way finding in a city or in an phase, it doesn't ask you to hold the whole journey. It gives you the next step exactly where you need it. So, say you've solved that, you know, you you know where you go going, now you actually have to move through the space to get there. And imagine that this is one of the food parts that you regularly use. This is Evanshoe Street, and, you know, it runs alongside a lighter stop. And the light rail comes from comes from, entertainment court and goes to Central. And it means that on, you know, on an event day like a game at a stadium, the food path gets flooded with people coming off the light rail. So you cross to the other side of this street. You know, to avoid that crap. The other side has clubs, with drunk people outside at night, and cafes with queues in the morning. And delivery bikes will have been squeezed off a one lane road and have nowhere else to go except legally ambiguously the food path. And when they come, they come with bells. Loud, close and sudden. Actually, the type of bell that is designed to startle. And it lands very harshly on an nervous system that cannot filter it away as a background. And lights. They are bright, front facing lights. At your eye level. So there is no good option here, actually. Only a choice between types of unpredictability. For most people, this requires only a small adjustment, like it's it's it's a slight annoyance. But for neurodivergent people, in our study, this required constant scanning, you know, anticipating trajectories, calculating gaps. One participant actually described it as being on the edge the whole time. So it's a vigilance problem. And vigilance is expensive. You know, it's it can consume the cognitive energy that you need to do this thing that you came to do. And this is not a personal issue. This is a design issue. Someone decided that this was this is fine. You know? But the cost of that decision lands on someone's nervous system that cannot filter it away. As a background. Are there the virgin participants using this food park could not stay present in the environment. They had to stay vigilant. The whole time. So, my question is, where in your product are you asking users to be vigilant instead of present. K. So may I ask you to turn to the person next to you and just discuss the answer to this question about it can be a product, a system that you design, or you know, any kind of interfaces. Or could be a part of the city that you have experienced. Okay. I'll give it two minutes. And we'll continue after that. Is it going good? Okay. Thanks, everyone. We will come back to that question, like, in twenty minutes. And, we will pick up where we left off. Okay? We'll follow-up on that. So the surface itself, you know, participants talked a great deal about where we where we walking down, like even paving, loose gravel, or tiles that get slippery in the rain. They, they were referring to them as forces of real anxiety and physical discomfort. And there is a reason for that that I think is underappreciated. Because, some sort of Asian people, they have more posture sway. They have higher rates of joint hardware mobility. They actually refer to themselves as clumsy. But you all know what it means. So balance is not a given. For these participants, you know. It's it's something that's being actively managed. Which means an inconsiderate surface isn't just a minor a minor inconvenience. It's it's actually another thing that's, drawing from the same cognitive cognitive account that we're talking about. So, every unexpected change on the foot is attention spent. So, when someone is fatigued, and they usually are, you know, at the end of this trip that I'm, explaining, the account that cognitive account is depleted. So, they don't really have anything left. And it means that it actually increases the rate of falling. Rate of tripping over. And here is the detail that actually I I find most instructive. Those tactile ground surface indicators that you can see, you know, they exist for a reason. They exist for accessibility. And that's the entire purpose. You know, they get slippery in red, but worse. You know, they they are they are designed at a stand at a standard height. You know? And that standard height that standard, it doesn't increase the risk of falling, you know, it doesn't impose any risk. But see that paving joint? Yeah. So those tactile indicators that have been placed on this paving joint, if that paving joint shifts, those individual markers stick up. And then that's something that can cause you trip over. And one of our participants trip over this and broke their ankle. So, So it's not just you know, how we design something, also how we maintain something. All the time. So, the main reason here is about consistency. You know. The walking surface is substrate, it's just delay that you're not supposed to have to think about. But it's inconsistently cost users attention that they actually rather spend on what they actually came to do. So far, you know, you found your way here you navigated the food path, and neither of these were free. Now, at the sensory environment on top, And here is the thing that most people get wrong about sensory accessibility. They think about it as an individual irritant, like one loud noise or one bright light. If you remove that irritant, you know, you're fine, so you solved the problem. But this is not what our participant described. What they described was accumulation. But So picture this tunnel as part of your journey. You know, this is the venture strip tunnel, and it actually it's placed at the end of the Davencher Street that I was talking about earlier. On its own, in isolation, you perhaps manage it fine. You know. But, you're not arriving fresh, you know? You you have already spent the mornings cognitive budget finding your way and dodging delivery box. So, now you step into this. Even on its own, you know, it represents an accumulation of sensory demands. One participant described it like even from a long way away, the sound gets really intense. It comes from all directions. So you have music from those vazquez, you have the sound of footpath, you have conversations, and sometimes, people bring their skateboards, and you can imagine, you know, the rattling sound on the wheels running on those very small tiles. And they are all bouncing off hard surfaces. And noise, you know, it's not just simply that the tunnel is loud, you know, the noise is layered, it's asynchronous. It's coming from different directions, there is no pattern to it. So, the brain cannot filter it away as background. So Now, a delighting. That flickers and reflective surfaces, So, it creates a visual feel that the eye could never settle on. Now, add the heat, add the smell, the enclosure, and, you know, there is no clear exit. There is one way in, one way out. You need to actually go through the whole tunnel. So, the question is not, is this space loud, or is this space too bright, the question is can someone's nervous system predict it because if it cannot be predicted, it cannot be backgrounded. And if it cannot be backgrounded, it has to be processed. Consciously and effortfully, every single second. Okay, you might about, you know, cognitive load in UX all the time, usually at the level of a single screen. Could be, you know, be like, is this form too long, or is this label confusing, or is this button clear? What our participants are describing is cognitive load, at the level of the whole session, you know, the whole journey. So, your screen might be perfectly clear, you know, your form might be beautifully designed, but the question that actually determines whether someone can use it is, what is the person already carrying by the time they reach it? So, not just since it is, in design in general. Okay. So far I have told you the story about the cost, you know, about demand, and about what the city takes. But if if if it, you know, if it was the whole story, it was very simple and quite depressing, That cities are hard for neurosurgeon people, so you know, cities cities shouldn't be hot. But, that's not what we found. The most important thing that that we learned from this study was that participants were not simply encountering barriers. We did not meet passive victims of bad design. We met experts, Every single participant had developed a sophisticated, personal, highly intelligent system for managing the city. You know, they know which backstreet was common, cooler and had that street art. That they liked to look at. So, they chose it instead of going through you know, noisy main road. And they know which park was buffered from the road, and which one just looked green, but sat next to four lane of traffic. And they know which corner of which open space let them watch the world without the world watching them back. So, they were not enduring the city, they were working it. And we gave this a name. We call them regulatory landscapes. So the idea is this, the same city that imposes these three demands, you know, wayfinding, navigation, and sensory overload, it's also the same city that, contains those resources to recover from them. And Nurudevgian people out of necessity, became highly skilled at identifying and deploying those resources. So a bench is not just a bench, it's the thing that makes the next twenty minutes possible. And a backstreet is not just a slower route, it's actually an active act of self regulation. It's quiet, it's cooler with a bit of public art, to raise your mind on. So, this is a person participating in the city on terms that work for their own nervous system. And, this actually completely changes the whole design problem. Most accessibility work actually they they focus on rightly reducing the demand. You know, making way finding clear making movement more predictable, bringing the sensory sensory load down, That work is essential, and nothing I'm about to say replaces it. We're absolutely saying it to fix that tunnel, you know, the signage, the monkey footpath. But reducing demand is just half the work. Because no matter how good the design, moving through a city still costs you something. There will always be load. So, the other half of the job is to provide resources people can use those resources to recover from that load. And, you know, I want to be clear about one thing because it's easy to miss you know, these recovery resources, you know, somewhere to sit, somewhere to step out over the intensity, a toilet that you can count on, and somewhere to get food when your energy drops, they are not luxurious, they are not nice to have. One person will say it plainly. It takes a lot of energy to get your shit or organized and get out of the house. I want to make the most of that and be gone for a long time. So leaving the house is expensive. It costs energy that most people never have to count. So, once she's out, she needs to be able to stay out. And if you take those recovery resources away, you've shortened how long that person can be part of public life. So, recovery is access. And recovery points in the city, they have direct equivalents in the systems that we design. You know it that better, you know. If you look at your own products, where in your flow can you use a pause without losing their spot? And when someone is halfway through a long form, can they pause? You know, can they breathe and come back? Or does living I mean starting over? And when someone takes a wrong turn, like a mistake or a dead end, what happens? Do they get a clear calm way back? Or there is an error message, implies that this system is not designed for someone who falters. And when the experience get intense like a checkout like an onboarding, like a high stake decision, is there anywhere to step back from intensity without abandoning task? So these are recovery points, and not all products have them. Okay. So I would like to get back to that conversation that you are having, with the person that right next to you and see where is the bench. You know, think about the point in your design that, you know, the customer the consumer is just experiencing overload. Are you offering a bench next to that? Okay. We give it another two minutes. Thanks everyone. Okay. So let's continue with the rest of presentation and, and then we can have this conversation later after this. You know, during the brunch. Okay. So we designed the happy happy path quite beautifully, you know. And we designed it for a user here who arrives fresh, focused, fully equipped. And, we expect the user to move smoothly from start to finish. And we designed for that user because that user is usually easy to imagine. That's that's usually us, you know, on a good day, perhaps testing our own product. Architects are like that, and I hope that UX designers are doing better. So the user is that because that user is usually frequently fictional. You know, the real user is tired, is distracted by a child, you know, or if you don't take a take notification on their phone or, their own racing thoughts. They are halfway through on a bad day, and with the fractional attention that we assume when we are designing the product. And that user doesn't need the happy path to be prettier, They need somewhere to pause when the path gets really hard. Designing recovery points is not designing only for neurodivergent people. Think about who benefits from like a safe draft, or you cannot do this, or, you know, a check out that lets you leave and come back with your cart intact. So everyone would benefit from that. Okay. Let me pull this together. Because I have been telling you a story about cities, but it was never only about cities. Everything that we found in streets, you know, in Sydney's streets and public open spaces, They were pointing us to these three properties that determine, whether a neurodivergent person can participate. One is predictability. Can I anticipate what happens next? Can the environment be trusted not to surprise me at every single second. Sensor clarity. Is the information I need clear and legible? Or is it buried under clutter, noise, and confusing signals? And recovery. When the load builds up, and it always builds up, is there somewhere to pause, reset, and continue? So, these are urban design principles that are properties of any that human being they have to move through, under cognitive load, like a food pass, like a train station, like a checkout flow, like an onboarding sequence. Could be government form. And, this is why I want to retire a particular way of thinking about neuro inclusion. The checklist way. Because this version, talks about inclusion usually a step near the end. You know, you design the thing like the building, like the product, could be a service, and then before lunch someone comes in, to run the accessibility audit. You know, they add alt text, they check their contrast ratio, they add captions, and they are all essential work but they are just bolted on. They are appended to a finished product. By which point, the bend, so to speak, has nowhere left to go. Because predictability is not a thing that you can add at the end. You know, it's a property of how the whole system is structured. And sensory clarity is not a coat of paint. You know, it's in the bones of the layout. And recovery, as we've seen, has to be designed into the flow. Not just something that you can squeeze in later. So, neuro inclusive is structural quality. And like any structural quality, it has to be decided early. Or not at all. So And these qualities are not minority preferences. They are close to universal. You know, when we tested these qualities with both NeuroDivergent and NeuroDivergent typical people, they overvalued this. You know, they overvalued predictable layout, the calm sensor environment, and the place to pause. So this is never a trade off. You're not sacrificing the experience of many to accommodate a few. The qualities that a neurodegenerative nervous system requires are the qualities that make the system better for everyone. You know, neurodivergent people just feel the absence first. They are the indicator species. If it works for them, it works better for everyone. Okay. I want to leave you with three questions. You can carry back to whatever you're working on. The first, what demands are you placing on people? You know, is it vigilance? Is it memory? Is it sensory overload? You know, the tolerance that the person may not have to spare. Not on a good day, you know, with full attention, but on an ordinary day. That the person is tired, distracted, or halfway through a bad day. So, where does your designer assume a capacity that it has no right to assume? What resources are you giving back? This is the second one. You know, when a person hits the wall, like makes a mistake, loses the threat, gets overwhelmed, what does your system offer them? Is it a dead end or a clear calm way back? So find the moments where the loads pick up, and see whether you're actually offering a bench anywhere near them. And that's it. What would it mean to design this in from the beginning rather than assume it away? Not as an audit at the end, not as a checkbox, you know, before lunch, but as a part of this structure, just decided early. When it still costs you almost nothing if you if you do it well. Okay. I started by saying that the city is an interface, and I want to end by saying that the reverse is also true. You know, the interfaces that you design, they like cities, you know, you move through them, you navigate, you orient, you tire, you recover, or you don't. You know, you participate or you quietly turned away. So, if you design for neurodivergent people, you're designing for the whole range of how human minds work. And you're not narrowing your audience. K? You're designing something more people can actually use comfortably. And this is me. And that's, that's my LinkedIn profile, and you can find a lot of information on that if you, would like to. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yep. That was wonderful. I'm I'm really curious about this idea of thinking of neuro inclusivity inclusivity as a structural element. Of the things that we're designing. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Because like, it's I think a lot of design work is treated as or perceived to be decorative. And what you're sort of getting at is that this part of it needs to be considered early, considered often, otherwise, that's really all we're doing. We sort of it's a a secondary or late consideration. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It's actually, our approach to Like, tactile indicators, like, you know, when I I work on a on a project that's looking at designing for blind and low vision, And I'm preparing presentation actually for next week, and, I I was just referred to someone to work with me on the accessibility of the presentation. And then, she said, okay. I will look at that after you, design the whole thing, and I was just okay, it's not going to work this way. So yes, like way finding you know? How are you going to design the city that makes it easier for you to find your way? Rather than just you know, relying on signage that's not actually working. How are you going to offering that cognitive map creating that cognitive map easily. People can actually refer to that. Our signage, you know, the the way finding system doesn't offer you that cognitive map. And those recovery resources, you know, they are all important, like the the back history that I was talking about. You know, if if you're thinking about designing the whole city, making sure that yeah, we have those main roads, and they get busy, you know, but is there any alternative way to get from a to b? And, are are we making them legible for people so they can actually find their way to way, you know. They can they know that there is another way to get from a to b, to, skip that intensity, to skip that loud noise, that can make them, you know, dysregulated. So first, you design this way and also make the design legible. It's funny you mentioned wayfinding and signage. I'm working and have been working alongside a lot of architects for the last few years. And they they speak a lot about intuitive way finding. So the design of the space so that we can just intuit where we need to go. And it's not. Isn't that nice? Put it mildly, it's not and it never is. And then the fix is never to change the architecture, it's always to just add signage. And we have this sort of you know, back and forth conversation around if really what you're after is an intuitive navigation like the ability to read a space to understand where the entrance is or the exit is or where the bathrooms are going to be just by looking at the way the space is designed. Then, by rights, once you've tested that with some people and they tell you that they can't understand it, that you would change the architecture. And it's never the case. It's never the case that they sort of go, okay, well we'll change the architecture. It's only ever the case that we'll wax signage on thing. And, the signage is actually the last resort, you know, the the thing that it should work without a signage in the first place. Yeah. Yeah. It's, is a remarkable thing, but the conversation ends up being how big a sign do we need? That's normally the conversation How big a sign are we talking about? Because I also don't want too big a sign because that spoils the architecture as well, but the architecture is not the problem. Does anyone have a question for Fatima? We do we can get a microphone too so you can just see. Hi, Fatima. Thank you very much for a nice presentation. I just wanted to add sort of a comment slash question. So I have looked at somebody, something you know, cities as an infrastructural problems. That could be a design problem, that is we call that hostile infrastructure. Where it is deliberately making sure people who are homeless cannot access what you call as the rehab places. And for somebody who's been homeless in Australia for three months, that infrastructure did add a lot to my pain and agony. Did you look at that somehow at any level during your research? Actually, one of our participants mentioned that a lot of those seats, on train platforms are taken away because of that, you know, during COVID. So it's one of those examines of, you know, taking those recovery resources out of the city, so making sure that, you know, some specific population can't use it, but it means that everyone else you know, that they're using and benefiting from, then they can't actually ## Slides ### 00:00:10 # The city as interface What urban environments can teach us about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking in an urban environment] ### 00:00:31 # The city is interface ## It's all about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a city street] ### 00:00:48 # The city as interface A human-centered approach to design for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a city street] ### 00:00:52 # The city as interface A human-centered approach to design for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a city street] ### 00:01:13 # The city is an interface And what that tells us about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a city street] ### 00:01:34 # The city is its interface What an accessible city looks like is all about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking in an urban environment] ### 00:01:49 # The city is interface What accessible experiences can teach us about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking in a city] ### 00:02:09 # The city is interface ## and everything in between is about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a city street] ### 00:02:30 # The city as interface ## What urban designers can learn about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking in an urban environment] ### 00:02:47 # The city as interface More than just accessible design, it's all about designing for every mind [Blurred image of people walking on a street] ### 00:03:08 # Towards neuroinclusive public open spaces Evidence and implications from the City of Sydney [Cover image of a tree-lined path in a park] [QR code to access the report] ### 00:03:31 # Next departures [Screenshot of a large digital display board showing train departure information, including Sydney services, Intercity & Events, Regional services, and Metro lines] ### 00:03:48 # Next departures [Screenshot of a large digital public transport departure board showing train and metro services] ### 00:03:53 # Next departures [Screenshot of a large digital public transport departure board showing train and metro services] ### 00:04:19 # Next departures ## 10:18 [Screenshot of a digital train departure board displaying various services for Sydney, Intercity & Events, Regional services, and Metro, with ### 00:04:45 # Plan your trip ## Trackwork - Sat 22 - Sun 23 Aug - T1 North Shore Line - T9 Northern Line - Buses replace T1 trains ### 00:04:48 # Plan your trip ## Trackwork - Sat 22 - Sun 23 Aug - T1 North Shore Line - T9 Northern Line - Buses replace T1 trains ### 00:05:12 [Photograph of a train station platform with a train, people waiting, and a digital display board showing train information] ### 00:05:35 ### Train Departure Information - Next Service 12:47:34 - T1 Penrith - Redfern 1 min - Central 1 min [Photograph ### 00:05:47 ### Train Schedule Display - Next service: Y1 Penrith, Platform 18, arriving in 1 min. - Other destinations listed: Mount Victoria (2 min), Redfern, ### 00:06:13 [Photograph of a train station platform with a train stopped, people waiting, and overhead digital signs displaying train service information.] ### 00:06:37 [Photograph of a train station platform with a train stopped and people waiting, including a digital display board showing train schedules.] ### 00:07:04 # WATER POLLUTION INDICATOR SPECIES [Diagram showing six icons of aquatic organisms and a skull and crossbones, aligned above a horizontal bar graph indicating increasing pollution levels. The organisms are: Mayfly Nymph (Low pollution, Stream), Dragonfly Nymph (Low pollution, Pond), Freshwater Shrimp (Slight pollution), Hoglouse (Medium pollution), Worm (Tubifex) (High pollution), and a skull and crossbones (Extreme pollution, No Life).] ### 00:07:25 # WATER POLLUTION INDICATOR SPECIES **Pollution Level Scale:** - **Low (Stream):** Mayfly Nymph - **Low (Pond):** Dragonfly Nymph - **Slight:** Freshwater Shrimp - **Medium:** Hoglouse - **High:** Worm (Tubifex) - **Extreme:** No Life [Diagram showing six illustrated invertebrates (Mayfly Nymph, Dragonfly Nymph, Freshwater Shrimp, Hoglouse, Worm (Tubifex)) and a skull and crossbones icon, aligned above a horizontal gradient bar indicating increasing pollution levels from Low (Stream) to Extreme.] ### 00:07:48 # WATER POLLUTION INDICATOR SPECIES ## POLLUTION LEVEL - **Low (Stream)**: Mayfly Nymph - **Low (Pond)**: Dragonfly Nymph - **Slight**: Freshwater Shrimp - **Medium**: Hoglouse - **High**: Worm (Tubifex) - **Extreme**: No Life [Diagram showing six indicator species (Mayfly Nymph, Dragonfly Nymph, Freshwater Shrimp, Hoglouse, Worm (Tubifex), and a skull and crossbones for "No Life") aligned above a horizontal scale indicating increasing water pollution levels from Low to Extreme.] ### 00:08:09 # WATER POLLUTION INDICATOR SPECIES [Diagram showing a horizontal pollution level scale from Low (Stream) to Extreme, with indicator species icons and names above corresponding pollution levels: Mayfly Nymph and Dragonfly Nymph for Low, Freshwater Shrimp for Slight, Hoglouse for Medium, Worm (Tubifex) for High, and a skull and crossbones for Extreme (No Life)] ### 00:08:30 1 in 5 of us are neurodivergent [Illustration of six stick figures representing people] ### 00:08:48 1 million Sydneysiders [Illustration of five stick figures, four black and one red, representing a population group.] [Map of Sydney divided into numerous colored regions, each labeled with a district or suburb name, such as Outer North-West, Hills District, North-Western Suburbs, Western Suburbs, South-Western Suburbs, Outer South-West, Southern Suburbs, Inner South-West, Inner West, Inner City, Inner South, South-Eastern Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore, Upper North Shore, Northern Suburbs, Forest District, Upper Northern Beaches, Lower Northern Beaches, Outer North, Outer South, Outer West.] ### 00:08:50 1 million Sydneysiders [Illustration of five stick figures, four black and one red, representing a population group.] [Map of Sydney divided into numerous colored regions, each labeled with a district or suburb name, such as Outer North-West, Hills District, North-Western Suburbs, Western Suburbs, South-Western Suburbs, Outer South-West, Southern Suburbs, Inner South-West, Inner West, Inner City, Inner South, South-Eastern Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore, Upper North Shore, Northern Suburbs, Forest District, Upper Northern Beaches, Lower Northern Beaches, Outer North, Outer South, Outer West.] ### 00:09:16 [Two side-by-side photographs. The left photo shows people walking on a sunny day in an urban outdoor area with modern buildings and trees. The right photo shows two people walking on a wet sidewalk ### 00:09:41 [Two photographs side-by-side. The left photo shows people walking on a sunny outdoor path lined with modern buildings and trees. The right photo shows two people walking on a wet sidewalk under an umbrella on a rainy day, next to a building with a sign for "REPAIR & FITTING".] ### 00:09:46 [Two photographs side-by-side. The left photo shows people walking on a sunny outdoor path lined with modern buildings and trees. The right photo shows two people walking on a wet sidewalk under an umbrella on a rainy day, next to a building with a sign for "REPAIR & FITTING".] ### 00:10:07 [Two photographs side-by-side. The left photo shows people walking on a sunny outdoor path with modern buildings and trees. The right photo shows two people walking on a wet sidewalk, one holding an umbrella, with a building and trees in the background.] ### 00:10:29 # Environmental demands - Wayfinding as memory tax - Navigation as continuous cognitive labour - Sensory environment as cumulative load [Street scene with people, parked bicycles, and scooters under an awning] ### 00:10:47 ## Environmental demands - Wayfinding as memory tax - Navigation as continuous cognitive labour - Sensory environment as cumulative load [Photograph of a busy city street with people, parked bicycles, and scooters] ### 00:10:48 # Environmental demands - Wayfinding as memory tax - Navigation as continuous cognitive labour - Sensory environment as cumulative load [Photograph of a busy city street with people, parked bicycles, and scooters] ### 00:11:10 # Directions Sign - **Access:** 1 min (walking), 5 min (accessible walking) - **City Centre** - **Broadway:** 2 min - **UTS ### 00:11:35 # Darling Square ## Hay Street - **↑** Little Hay Street - **↑** Steam Mill Lane - **↑** The Exchange - **↑** Cockle Bay ### 00:11:49 ### Screenshot of a map application showing directions [Screenshot of a person using a smartphone with a map application displaying directions from Krakowska towards Połwiejska, showing a 15-minute, 1 km route.] ### 00:12:13 # Meagher St ## Directions from Chippendale / Meagher Street - White Rabbit Gallery (1 min walk) - Broadway (5 min) - UTS / Chinatown (7 ### 00:12:39 # Street Signs in Chippendale - **Meagher St** - **Chippendale Meagher Street** - ↑ White Rabbit Gallery 1 min - ↑ Broadway @ 5 min - ↑ UTS / Chinatown 7 min - ↑ Ultimo 10 min - → Regent Street 2 min - ← Abercrombie Street 1 min - **Ultimo / UTS Sydney City** [Photograph of multiple street signs on a pole, including directions to local landmarks and streets with estimated walking times] ### 00:12:52 [Photograph of a city street with a large truck in the foreground and pedestrians on the sidewalks, flanked by tall buildings.] ### 00:13:13 > "a weird bunch of buildings that don't have anything written on them." [Street scene with a truck driving past multi-story buildings and pedestrians on the sidewalk] ### 00:13:34 "a weird bunch of buildings that don't have anything written on them." [Photograph of a city street with a large truck, buildings, and pedestrians] ### 00:13:47 > "a weird bunch of buildings that don't have anything written on them." [Photograph of a city street with a large truck driving past multi-story buildings and pedestrians on the sidewalks] ### 00:14:09 [Two people, a man and a woman, outdoors in a sunny landscape, looking at a large paper map.] ### 00:14:34 Image source: pressmaster - stock.adobe.com [Photograph of two hikers, a man and a woman, looking at a paper map outdoors with mountains in the background] ### 00:14:48 [Photograph of a street scene with a tram featuring colorful Indigenous art patterns on its side, a "TRAM ONLY" sign, and a "LOOK FOR LIGHT RAIL" sign.] ### 00:15:10 [Street scene with a tram decorated with colorful Indigenous art, a "TRAM ONLY" sign, and a "LOOK FOR LIGHT RAIL" sign.] ### 00:15:32 [Photograph of a city street on a rainy day with people holding umbrellas, shops, and tram tracks.] ### 00:15:48 [Photograph of people riding bicycles on a city sidewalk next to a street with tram tracks and buildings.] ### 00:15:52 [Photograph of people riding bicycles on a city sidewalk next to a street with tram tracks and buildings.] ### 00:16:15 [Image of a person on a red bicycle riding on a sidewalk next to a street with tram tracks and buildings.] ### 00:16:36 [Photograph of a busy city street scene with many pedestrians on the sidewalk. Several shop signs are visible, including "HAPPY SKEWERS", "+ Molly Tea +", and "본가 BORNG A ### 00:16:48 [Photograph of a busy city street with many people on the sidewalk, shops, and buildings.] ### 00:17:09 [Photograph of a busy city street with many people, storefronts including "Molly Tea" and "BORNGA", traffic lights, and street signs.] ### 00:17:32 Where in your product are you asking users to be **vigilant** instead of **present**? ### 00:19:45 [Three side-by-side photos of different ground surfaces: a patchwork of various paving materials including concrete, aggregate, and brick; a reddish-brown path with puddles and a sign for "Nagoya Gardens"; and dark grey tactile paving with metal studs, with a person's feet visible.] ### 00:19:46 [Three images showing different ground surfaces: a patchwork of damaged paving stones, a wet path with puddles and a light pole base, and tactile paving with a person's feet.] ### 00:20:12 [Three images showing different ground surfaces: a patchwork of concrete and brick pavers with some missing, a reddish-brown paved area with puddles and a lamppost base, and a dark grey tactile paving surface with metal studs and a person's feet.] ### 00:20:34 [Three images side-by-side showing different ground surfaces: a patchwork of uneven and damaged paving, a reddish-brown ground with puddles and a lamppost base, and a tactile paving surface with raised silver studs.] ### 00:20:47 [Three images showing different types of ground surfaces: a broken paved path, a wet outdoor area with puddles, and tactile paving with a person's feet.] ### 00:21:10 [Three images of ground surfaces: a patchwork of various paving materials, a reddish-brown paved area with puddles near a light pole, and a dark grey tactile paving with silver raised dots.] ### 00:21:32 [Three images showing different types of outdoor paving: a close-up of uneven and broken pavers, a reddish paved area with puddles and a light pole base, and a tactile paving surface with raised silver dots next to a regular paved surface.] ### 00:21:47 [Three images showing different ground surfaces: a patchwork of uneven paving stones, a reddish-brown paved area with puddles, and tactile paving with raised dots.] ### 00:22:09 [Image showing a patchwork of various paving materials, some broken or uneven.] [Image of a reddish-brown ground with puddles and a lamppost base, with "Nagoya Gardens" sign in the background.] [Image of dark grey tactile paving with metal studs, showing a person's feet.] ### 00:22:32 [Three images of ground surfaces: a patchwork of various paving materials, a reddish-brown ground with puddles and a light pole, and tactile paving with raised dots and a person's feet.] ### 00:22:48 # WEB DIRECTIONS ## UX ### AUSTRALIA SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [Photograph of an outdoor urban park area with people sitting at tables, trees, and multi-story buildings in the background] ### 00:22:52 [Image of an outdoor urban park area with people sitting at tables, surrounded by trees and modern buildings.] ### 00:23:16 Image source: Anastasiya - stock.adobe.com [A young child in a denim shirt playing with colorful wooden building blocks, stacking them on a white table.] ### 00:23:37 Image source: Anastasiya - stock.adobe.com [A young child in a denim shirt playing with colorful wooden building blocks on a white table] ### 00:24:02 [Image of a long, brightly lit pedestrian underpass or subway tunnel with people walking, featuring murals and patterned tiles on the walls.] ### 00:24:26 > "Even from a long way away, the sound gets really intense. It comes from all directions." [Photograph of a long subway tunnel with people walking, featuring murals on the walls] ### 00:24:46 > "Even from a long way away, the sound gets really intense. It comes from all directions." [Photograph of a long, brightly lit underground pedestrian tunnel with murals on the walls and several people walking through it.] ### 00:25:12 [Image of several people walking down a brightly lit pedestrian tunnel with murals on the walls.] ### 00:25:33 [Image of people walking through a long, brightly lit underground pedestrian tunnel with tiled walls featuring archways and murals.] ### 00:25:47 [People walking through a brightly lit underground tunnel with murals on the walls] ### 00:26:08 [Image of the entrance to an "EzyMart" convenience store with people walking past it] ### 00:26:29 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [Photograph of the entrance to an EzyMart convenience store with people walking past] ### 00:26:48 What is this person already carrying by the time they reach here? [Photograph of people walking past an EzyMart convenience store, with a woman on the left talking on a phone and carrying a bag, and a man on the right walking with a bag.] ### 00:26:54 What is this person already carrying by the time they reach here? [Photograph of people walking past an EzyMart convenience store, with a woman on the left talking on a phone and carrying a bag, and a man on the right walking with a bag.] ### 00:27:16 [Photograph of a busy city street with pedestrians on a sidewalk and cars on the road. In the foreground, one woman helps an older woman with a red walker.] ### 00:27:38 [Photograph of a busy city street with pedestrians and cars, focusing on two women on the sidewalk, one assisting another with a red walker.] ### 00:27:46 [Photograph of a busy city street scene with pedestrians and cars. In the foreground, one woman helps another woman with a red walker on the sidewalk.] ### 00:28:08 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [Street scene with a graffiti-covered wall, sidewalk, and buildings in the background] [A long tree-lined avenue with people walking] [Park scene with a pond, trees, and buildings in the background] ### 00:28:30 ## Regulatory landscapes [Photo of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge with people on a grassy area and flowers in the foreground] ### 00:28:49 ### Regulatory landscapes [Photo of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge from a grassy park with people walking and flowers in the foreground] ### 00:28:51 ### Regulatory landscapes [Photo of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge from a grassy park with people walking and flowers in the foreground] ### 00:29:12 [Two photographs side-by-side. The left photo shows the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background, with people walking on a grassy area in the foreground, and flowers and a bench on the left. The right photo shows a street scene with a long wall covered in graffiti on the left, a paved path, grass on the right, and trees and buildings in the background.] ### 00:29:37 [Two photographs side-by-side. The left photo shows the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background, with a grassy area, flowers, and people walking in the foreground. The right photo shows a long brown wall with graffiti, a paved path, and some trees and buildings in the background.] ### 00:29:48 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## SYDNEY ## AUGUST 2026 [Photo of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background, with a grassy park, people walking, and flowers in the foreground] [Photo of a long wall covered in graffiti next to a paved path, with trees and buildings in the distance] ### 00:30:10 [Two photographs side-by-side: one of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge with a grassy foreground, and another of a graffiti-covered wall next to a path with trees and buildings.] ### 00:30:34 [Photograph of an outdoor pedestrian area decorated with numerous red, yellow, and white lanterns strung between trees, with people walking and sitting, and shops in the background.] ### 00:30:48 > "It takes a lot of energy to get your sh*t organised and get out of the house. I want to make the most of that and be gone for a long time." [Photograph of an outdoor pedestrian area decorated with red, yellow, and white lanterns hanging from trees, with people sitting on benches and storefronts in the background.] ### 00:31:10 > "It takes a lot of energy to get your sh*t organised and get out of the house. I want to make the most of that and be gone for a long time." [Photograph of an outdoor urban area with trees, people, and many red, yellow, and white lanterns strung overhead] ### 00:31:35 ### Recovery points as a design principle [Photo of people sitting on a red circular bench around a tree in front of a classical building] ### 00:31:48 ### Recovery points as a design principle [Image of people sitting on a red circular bench around a tree in front of a classical building] ### 00:32:10 ## Recovery points as a design principle [Image of people sitting on a circular red bench under a tree in front of a classical building] ### 00:32:31 Where is the bench? [Photograph of people playing a large outdoor chess game in a park, with a person sitting on a bench in the foreground looking towards the game] ### 00:32:48 Where is the bench? [Photograph of people playing a large outdoor chess game in a park, with a person sitting on a bench in the foreground] ### 00:32:52 Where is the bench? [Photograph of people playing a large outdoor chess game in a park, with a person sitting on a bench in the foreground] ### 00:33:13 [Screenshot of an outdoor park scene with trees and people] ### 00:33:38 [Photograph of an outdoor scene with people and trees] ### 00:34:04 [An image of an outdoor scene with green foliage and indistinct figures, displayed on a small screen.] ### 00:34:29 LIVE 0:30 [Live video feed showing an outdoor scene with people] ### 00:34:47 [Screenshot of an outdoor scene with numerous trees and a path] ### 00:35:14 [Image of a blurry outdoor scene, possibly a park or field with trees] ### 00:35:39 [Photograph of an outdoor scene with trees and people]" ### 00:35:45 [Photograph of an outdoor scene with trees and people]" ### 00:36:10 [Photograph of a person with a backpack walking away on a dirt path, with green hills and distant buildings under a clear sky.] ### 00:36:34 Image source: Federico Magonio - stock.adobe.com [Image of a person with a backpack walking away on a dirt path through a rural landscape] ### 00:36:48 Image source: Federico Magonio - stock.adobe.com [A person with a backpack and hat walks away on a dirt path through a green, hilly landscape] ### 00:37:10 # WEB DIRECTIONS ## UX AUSTRALIA ### SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 Image source: Federico Magonio - stock.adobe.com [Image of a person with a large backpack walking away on a dirt path through a rural landscape] ### 00:37:31 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 Image source: IvanTraimak - stock.adobe.com [A woman on the phone stands next to an open car trunk, holding a baby stroller. Cars are parked in the background.] ### 00:37:47 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA Image source: Ivan Traimak - stock.adobe.com [A woman on the phone, looking stressed, stands next to an open car trunk with a baby stroller beside her, suggesting difficulty with loading or unloading.] ### 00:37:50 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA Image source: Ivan Traimak - stock.adobe.com [A woman on the phone, looking stressed, stands next to an open car trunk with a baby stroller beside her, suggesting difficulty with loading or unloading.] ### 00:38:13 # Neuroinclusion as a design system ### 00:38:33 # Neuroinclusion as a design system - Predictability [Icon of a human head silhouette with two gears inside, enclosed in a circle] ### 00:38:47 ## Neuroinclusion as a design system [Icon of a head with gears, representing predictability] Predictability [Icon of an eye, representing sensory clarity] Sensory clarity ### 00:39:07 # Neuroinclusion as a design system - Predictability - Sensory clarity - Recovery [Three icons: a head with gears, an eye, and a medical cross, each paired with a concept label] ### 00:39:29 [A hand holding a pen, placing a red checkmark in one of several empty checkboxes] ### 00:39:47 [A hand holding a pen, placing a red checkmark in one of several empty checkboxes.] ### 00:39:49 [A hand holding a pen checks one of several empty checkboxes with a red tick mark.] ### 00:40:10 [Hand holding a pen, marking a red checkmark in one of several empty checkboxes] ### 00:40:31 - Predictability - Sensory clarity [Image of a hand holding a pen, checking the third box in a vertical list of empty checkboxes] ### 00:40:47 - Predictability - Sensory clarity - Recovery [Image of a hand checking a box in a list of checkboxes] ### 00:40:50 - Predictability - Sensory clarity - Recovery [Image of a hand checking a box in a list of checkboxes] ### 00:41:12 [Photograph of an urban plaza with a long, shallow water feature, modern buildings, and people sitting on a grassy area.] ### 00:41:34 [Photograph of an urban park with a long, narrow water feature, people sitting on benches and grass, and buildings in the background.] ### 00:41:48 # Closing: What to take back ### 00:42:08 # Closing: What to take back What demands are you placing on people? [Icon of a winking face with its tongue sticking out] ### 00:42:28 # Closing: What to take back - What demands are you placing on people? - What resources are you giving back? [Icon of a face with its tongue sticking out] [Icon of a piggy bank] ### 00:42:47 ## Closing: What to take back - What demands are you placing on people? - What resources are you giving back? [Icon of a face with its tongue sticking out, representing demands or stress] [Icon of a piggy bank, representing resources or giving back] ### 00:42:48 ## Closing: What to take back - What demands are you placing on people? - What resources are you giving back? [Icon of a face with its tongue sticking out, representing demands or stress] [Icon of a piggy bank, representing resources or giving back] ### 00:43:10 # Closing: What to take back What demands are you placing on people? What resources are you giving back? What would it mean to design this in from the start, rather than assume it away? [Icon of a face with its tongue sticking out] [Icon of a piggy bank] [Icon of a lightbulb with a gear inside] ### 00:43:32 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 # The city as interface [Image of a busy city street with blurred pedestrians and buildings] ### 00:43:49 # The city as interface Image source: 孤飞的鹤 - stock.adobe.com [Photograph of a busy city street with blurred people and buildings] ### 00:44:11 ### Dr Fatemeh Aminpour f.aminpour@unsw.edu.au [Portrait photo of Dr Fatemeh Aminpour] [QR code for contact information] ### 00:44:33 [Two partial images of people, likely headshots] [QR code] ### 00:45:07 [The slide displays three distinct sections, each featuring a small, abstract icon above a line of text that is too blurry to read.] ### 00:45:33 # You're Inheriting It. — Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:45:47 # You're Inheriting It. — Mina Giang · UX Australia 2026 ### 00:46:08 # You're Inheriting It. Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:47:13 # You're Inheriting It. ### Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:47:33 ## You're Inheriting It. — Mina Giang · UX Australia 2026 ### 00:47:47 # You're Inheriting It. — Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:48:08 # You're Inheriting It. ### Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:48:28 # You're Inheriting It. Mina Giang - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:48:49 ### You're Not Designing the Experience. You're Inheriting It. ### 00:49:12 # You're Not Designing the Experience. ## You're Inheriting It. [Small logo in the top right corner that reads "UXA"]