Walk & Talk: reimagining productivity for neurodiversity

Walk & Talk is an alternative framework to productivity culture. Situated in nature, it reimagines productivity for neurodiverse needs and responds to challenges around burnout, disconnection, and capitalist systems that prioritise productivity over people. This project is a gentle methodology in which we design material elicitations that invite the neurodiverse community to engage in conversations and activities to rethink the meaning of productivity. This project is a gentle methodology in which we design material elicitations that invite the neurodiverse community to engage in conversations and activities to rethink the meaning of productivity.

We conducted this research with 12 neurodiverse individuals, taking them on a Walk & Talk in parks around London. As a process-based research project, we explored ethnographic methods with our participants, which included reflective dialogues, observation, and creative documentation to reveal how our community reflects on itself in these environments. Throughout these dialogues, as facilitators, we gathered meaningful insights that led us to our two key outcomes: a framework and a printed-matter self-publication.

The book presents itself as a visual diary that extends our embodied research through co-created poems from the Walk & Talk, conversations, and photographs of trees shared by our participants. Their voices become warm data to support our narrative storytelling. On the other hand, we developed a downloadable framework intended for designers, researchers, and local communities. It outlines the purpose and use of the Walk & Talk methodology, serving as a step-by-step guide with prompts to practise this alternative, dialogue-based approach to engaging with neurodivergent communities.

Skills: inclusive design, framework design, data analysis, ethnographic research, creative strategy, community engagement.