Study: Americans Spending Less Time Interacting in Public Space

American pedestrians are spending less time hanging out on sidewalks and streets, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

As David Zipper explains in Bloomberg CityLab, the researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze video footage from 1980 and 2010, noticing that people walk faster and spent less time interacting than they used to. “They seemed to be having fewer of the informal encounters that undergird civil society and strengthen urban economies.”

While the analysis doesn’t explain why behavior patterns have changed, the researchers offered several possible explanations. “City dwellers might be having fewer social interactions of all kinds, a phenomenon that has been linked to rising rates of loneliness. And some of the pedestrians observed in 2010 could have been socializing remotely: By then, 80% of US adults had cellphones.”

People may also be using more commercial third spaces like coffee shops and bars to socialize, particularly in places where public space is not comfortable or inviting. This leads to people spending more time around people who are similar to them, sharing similar economic backgrounds and experiences.

For the researchers, the shift is troubling. “Beyond creating personal connections, human exchange fuels economic productivity as people figure out how to do their job more efficiently or find inspiration for a new venture. Benefits reverberate citywide, and even across society writ large.”