IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

This paper is concerned with a neglected account, an unquestioned position in the built environment in its spatial formations, organizations and materialities: migraine, which is a neurological disease that affects more than 1 billion people worldwide and seen in 1 out of 5 women, 1 in 16 men and 1 in 11 children. Migraine-induced headache is the third most common disease and the sixth-highest specific cause of disability. With other visually triggered disorders such as photosensitive epilepsy, photophobia, and headache, migraine refers to a much larger community. By uniting neuroscientific data-set and vision research in architectural design research, it aims to detect the visuospatial factors affecting individuals with migraine, and discuss possible ways to regulate with the toolset of architecture. The visual-spatial stimuli that cause migraine pain, migraine attacks, photosensitive epilepsy and similar disorders will be determined and positioned by looking at the existing research and uniquely referring to the knowledge sets and methods of neurology, psychology and architecture sciences. Questioning the ways we design our built environments, the research aims to contribute to the areas of individual and social health, wellbeing and accessibility, with the development of design criteria for migraine-safe built environments where individuals spend the most time, and create a ground for future regulations and policies.