Dr Cathryn Kerr

Cathryn has researched the experiences of people with autism in public spaces, investigating the significance of built environment connectedness as a factor in the relationship between access to public space and social inclusion. Her research challenges the notions of equal, normal, and universal as applied to the built environment—notions that are foundational to the policies and practices that constitute urban design and its socio-political responsibility to provision the rights of all people with access to, and occupation of, public space.

Cathryn advocates for those who shape the built environment to recognise difference as part of the spectrum of normal so that neurological diversity can be better accommodated in public spaces.

In current practice Cathryn continues to investigate the impact of the built environment on people with cognitive disabilities such as dementia.