From The Atlantic

CityLab

Is Bad Urban Design Making Us Lonely?

Social interaction can be encouraged by our built environment. But it isn't
always.
NATE BERG | @nate_berg | Apr 16, 2012 | 8 Comments

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Where we live can play a huge role in our social lives. Bigger cities offer more
opportunities for interaction, suburban areas prioritize private spaces over
public ones.
But even small-scale urban design details can have a large impact on our social
lives. Bad urban design is one of the major causes of loneliness and asocial
behavior in Australia, according to a new report [PDF] from the Grattan
Institute, a think tank focused on public policy there.
"Cities can help social connection, or hinder it," the report notes. "They can be
so poorly organized that they are hard to get around a problem not just for
getting to work, but also for seeing friends and family and participating in

social activities."
Urban dwellers in Australia have fewer friendships and neighborhood
connections than they did 20 years ago, according to the report, which covers
issues like accessibility and transit, suburban commute times, public spaces
and the layouts of neighborhoods.
The number of Australians living alone is at a record high - singletons account
for about one-quarter of all Australian households, and government estimates
suggest that number will rise to 28 percent in 2030. The number of lonely
people is also on the rise. According to a recent study, the amount of people
who had no local friend they could ask a favor of grew from 11 percent to 13
percent from 1984 to 2005. The amount of people who had no trusted friends
grew from 6 percent to 8 percent.
The situation is even more dire in America. In 1985, 10 percent of people
reported having no close friends with whom to talk about important personal
issues, and 15 percent reported having only one close friend. In 2004, those
numbers rose to 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
These gures are from The Atlantic's May cover piece, which asks "Is Facebook
Making Us Lonely?" The article shows that a wide variety of inputs or
conditions can contribute to loneliness, and that even tools intended to make
us more social, such as social networks, can have unintended negative impacts.
This can also be true in urban design, according to the Grattan Institute report.
"People often nd ways to meet despite physical obstacles," the report notes.
"Conversely, the best-designed spaces dont guarantee connection."
But there are solutions. Among other ideas, the report suggests better shared
waiting areas for commuters (perhaps with greeters who could offer real-time
information on delays); improving public transportation quality (to cut down on
commute times); parks and sports facilities (the report is particularly fond of
mini-parks); and local events that bring people together.
Asocial behavior can't be blamed completely on poor urban design. But as the
report from Australia shows, the placement of building access points and the
location of outdoor seating can have a noticeable impact on how much social
interaction takes place in a city or doesn't.

Photo credit: Sander van der Werf /Shutterstock

About the Author

Nate Berg is a freelance reporter and a former staff writer for CityLab. He lives
in Los Angeles.
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