By Stephen Burton | Featuring Tobias Volbert, 7 Senses Foundation
When we talk about “inclusive design” in the built environment, the conversation often stops at physical accessibility. We widen doorways, we install ramps, and we ensure wheelchair access. These are critical, but they are only the baseline.
To create truly inclusive places—spaces that welcome the 1 in 20 people with sensory processing disorders, as well as those with autism, dementia, or anxiety—we must move beyond physical compliance. We must design for the mind as well as the body.
In this episode of The Placemakers, I sat down with Tobias Volbert, co-founder of the Seven Senses Foundation and a leader in sensory design, to unpack why our current approach to public space is failing neurodiverse communities—and the specific framework designers can use to fix it.
🎧 Listen to the Episode
We explore the full “7 Senses Audit” methodology in this interview.
📄 Accessibility & Reference
Prefer to read? Download the full word-for-word transcript of this interview.
“A lot of times when we talk in the built environment profession about inclusion… we look at physical impairments,” Tobias explains.
While a concrete plaza might be perfectly accessible to a wheelchair, it can be a hostile environment for someone with sensory processing challenges. The glare, the lack of acoustic dampening, and the absence of “retreat” zones can make these spaces unusable for large segments of the population.
Tobias argues that we need to look at “non-physical impairments” like autism and dementia. This requires a shift in thinking:
Most designers are trained to consider the standard five senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch. However, Tobias introduces two critical “hidden” senses that are vital for neurodiverse inclusion:
This is our sense of where our body is in space relative to gravity. In a park, this isn’t just about swings; it’s about how we navigate gradients and movement. It is fundamental to how we physically negotiate a landscape.
This is the “grounding” sense—knowing where your limbs are. Deep pressure and enclosed spaces can be incredibly calming for people experiencing sensory overload.
“I found this awesome proprioceptive zone there with a few beanbags where I could hug myself and felt safe,” Tobias notes, describing a successful sensory intervention.
Design Application: A “Just Right Place” isn’t one-size-fits-all. It provides choices: a “kitchen” where everyone congregates, and a “bedroom” (like a nook or pod) for private retreat.
One of the biggest missed opportunities in Australian urban design is the street itself. “80% of our public ground is streets,” Tobias reminds us. Yet, we often treat them purely as transport corridors for cars, rather than “Human Corridors.”
Tobias advocates for a return to the “Play Street” model common in the Netherlands and Germany. This doesn’t necessarily require digging up the road. It can start with:
“If you create a place that connects to the history… but then also how the people feel in that space… you make them stay longer,” Tobias says.
You cannot manage what you do not measure. Tobias suggests running a “Sensory Audit” on existing assets. Instead of looking at a bench or a fence as a static object, view it through the 7 Senses lens:
By auditing objects for their “sensory affordance,” we can turn a sterile environment into a rich, navigable landscape that works for everyone—from a child with autism to an elderly resident with dementia.
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