Fighting the ‘Loneliness Epidemic’ in Cities

Writing in Bloomberg CityLab, Linda Poon describes a new book by Andy Field titled Encounterism: The Neglected Joys of Being In Person that highlights the importance of interactions with strangers. “The mental health benefits of even the briefest of conversations can add up, according to Field.”

According to surveys, the “loneliness epidemic” is affecting groups differently: younger people and those over the age of 50 are most likely to report feeling lonely and not interacting with many people outside their home, while “People with lower incomes and members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups are more likely to be lonely.”

Field attributes the rise in loneliness to “a constellation of design decisions that ignore the value of social connections” in favor of convenience—and, during the pandemic, public health—such as self-checkout lanes, mobile ordering, and delivery services, as well as urban patterns that promote car-centric lifestyles and limit access to public space and community life.

The article includes several examples of cities that made concerted efforts to create opportunities for social interaction and build pleasant, safe, accessible public spaces. Poon notes that “Opportunities for psychologically restorative face-to-face interactions aren’t limited to parks and other public spaces. They occur aboard trains and buses during commuting, in supermarket lines and apartment building mailrooms, and other sites of workday congregation.”

Multifamily housing can also offer spaces for residents to mingle—if designed effectively. This is where zoning comes in: eliminating parking requirements, for example, can free up valuable real estate that could be used for common spaces.

Field admits that building community is about more than just “carefully arranged furniture.” Setha Low, author of Why Public Space Matters, says we “need to think more intentionally about creating a “public culture” within these spaces that is welcoming of people of different backgrounds and interests, and that invite both discussion and dissent.”