For neurodivergent people, noise and crowding can become decisive obstacles. Mo Sarraf studies how cities can be planned to better accommodate these needs.
By Catarina Thepper, first published in Medicinsk Vetenskap (Medical Science) No. 1, 2026.
It might involve trying to block out the noise from the busy road beside the bus stop. Or ways to reduce crowding on commuter trains, where people are standing uncomfortably close to each other. It could also mean improving communication during repeated delays while you wait. In other words, experiences that most of us find stressful, but which for neurodivergent individuals can mean they are already exhausted by the time they reach school or work.
"These kinds of adjustments would not exclude anyone; they will most likely make things better for all of us. No one likes delays, crowding, or noise," says Mo Sarraf , an architect with a PhD in urban and regional planning.
He works at RISE, the Swedish state research institute, where he leads three different projects focused on how to include neurodivergent people in urban and community planning. Mo Sarraf is also affiliated with KIND, the Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet .
The city should be accessible to everyone
Neurodivergence is an umbrella term covering a broad range of variations in how the human brain functions, such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia. Today, there is very limited knowledge about what aspects of urban and public environments create challenges for these individuals. According to Mo Sarraf, research in the field is extremely sparse.
"It is remarkable, given that urban planning research over the past 30 to 40 years has paid close attention to the needs of different groups, for example, gender, age or ethnicity. There are guidelines for adapting society to physical disabilities and for reducing segregation, but the perspective of neurodivergence is largely missing from these discussions," he says.
A common starting point in modern urban planning, and in research, is that the city should be accessible to everyone.
"The responsibility shifts away from the individual, but also from specific public sectors such as healthcare. Ensuring that the city works for everyone is a shared commitment across society, for policymakers and planners alike," he says.
That is why he believes it is important that many different sectors are involved in this kind of research. Collaborating with Professor Sven Bölte and other researchers at KIND gives Mo Sarraf access to methods and expertise not found within architecture and planning. It also plays a key role in involving neurodivergent people in the research on their own terms.
The research focuses on children and young adults, which is no coincidence.
"The ability to use public transport to travel wherever you want, whenever you want, is crucial for developing independence on the way into adult life," says Mo Sarraf.
The magazine Medical Science
The magazine Medical Science (Medicinsk Vetenskap) is published by Karolinska Institutet and targets the general public interested in medical science.
