Harper’s Playground was born from Cody's personal journey as a father. His daughter, Harper, faced significant physical challenges after birth, and at the age of four, her first independent steps were met with the frustration of being unable to navigate the traditional playground in their neighborhood. This moment of powerlessness sparked a lifelong mission to create spaces that are truly accessible to all. What began as an effort to eliminate wood chips from playgrounds has evolved into a global movement for inclusion, connection, and play.

Our brains are not merely passive observers of beauty, but active participants in how we perceive and interact with the world. Dr. Chatterjee’s work on embodied cognition and neuroarchitecture highlights the power of the environments we create - not just for functionality, but for their ability to foster well-being, connection, and joy.

Risa Wilkerson is a pioneer in the field of community health and design, dedicated to creating spaces that foster connection, inclusivity, and well-being.

Through her work with Healthy Places by Design, Risa has become a leading voice in advocating for spaces that nurture relationships, embrace diversity, and promote joy. 

Her dedication to building communities where people feel seen, heard, and valued is not just professional - it’s personal.

How do we creatively engineer public spaces that allow us all to navigate our common terrain?

What might assistance based on the body’s stunning capacity for adaptation—rather than a rigid insistence on “normalcy”—look like?

Sara Hendren explores the places where disability shows up in design, an inventive tradition of remaking our everyday tools and environments that carries the highest human stakes.

June Grant is an architect, designer and researcher committed to the craft of buildings, their potential to enhance cities and develop socially responsible solutions to complex real-world problems. She is the founding Principal of blink!LAB architecture, a boutique, research-based architecture practice focused on adaptive and transformative sustainable development. June has a master’s in architecture from Yale and has studied economics and sculpture. She is the immediate-past President of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SFNOMA), where she is committed to growing practice opportunities for under-represented groups by strengthening the role of communication. June is a community builder in every sense of the word.

In this episode, June shares: Her memories growing up in Jamaica and how they shaped her journey to be an architect. The strength and joy of intergenerational living. How AARP – the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to older adults – found her work and wanted to partner. How “granny flats” (i.e., accessory dwelling units (ADUs), in-law units) can help support diverse, sustainable, and equitable communities. The power of observation as critical to design and community building.

Katie and I explore how love can be a power to transform the world. Katie shares how she has learned to think about and practice designing with love, and how designers can use love to help dismantle systemic injustices.

“Talking about Love gives us clarity. Love and abuse, or love and racism, or love and discrimination, fundamentally cannot coexist.” - Katie Swenson