Loneliness is a Real Problem, but Researchers and Urban Planners Have Found Ways to Help
It's time we rethink urban planning and start designing our communities to encourage a sense of community to combat loneliness
Hiya!
We’re facing many crises right now, everything from climate change to loneliness. To make it through, we’ll need to tap into one of our most extraordinary human talents: ingenuity through creativity. We also need solutions that address multiple issues, rather than individual solutions for each problem. Thankfully, ideas are already flowing, and many are taking action.
I’ve already written several articles about how urban planners are finding creative ways to design communities that work with, rather than against, nature — and hopefully help us adapt to climate change. Now, experts have identified another research-backed way changing our urban layouts can aid another crisis we’re facing — loneliness.
Rise in Loneliness
Experts have sounded the alarm over a rise in loneliness over the past few years, with some surveys finding that one in five Americans report feeling lonely every day. Many experts now consider loneliness to be a public health epidemic, with the former U.S. Surgeon General warning in 2023 that feelings of loneliness raise the risk of premature death to levels comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Architect, researcher, and vice president and health and well-being design leader at the global firm, HKS Architects, Erin Peavey, told Juhie Bhatia of National Geographic that part of the reason we’re noticing the rise in loneliness now is because the pandemic made people more aware of their surroundings and helped destigmatize loneliness. She said:
“Over the last five-plus years, we’ve started to recognize that there are these structural factors that impact so much of our health, well-being, economic outcomes, etc, and that one of those is our physical and built environment.”
Most modern cities are designed to accommodate cars, with neighborhoods, workplaces, grocery stores, and other amenities spread out and requiring vehicles to access them. In other words, they aren’t easily walkable.
But over the last few years, as mental health challenges grow, experts are asking: What if we change urban designs to help us feel less alone?
Rethinking Urban Planning
Emma Avery, an urban planner and communication lead at a Canada-based consulting firm called Happy Cities, took it even further when she explained to Bhatia,
“We have housing unaffordability. We have the climate crisis. We have the crisis of social isolation and loneliness, and we really must work together to solve all these things at once.”
Changing up the layouts of our neighborhoods and cities, from isolation-based to community-driven, seems like a good place to start. Additionally, as we develop these new areas, we can incorporate eco-friendly designs. Julia Day, a partner at the global urban strategy firm Gehl, shared with Bhatia that,
“The built environment, which is everything from our streets to housing to transportation systems, is such an important piece of how we actually interact with each other. While addressing an epidemic requires multiple tools, changes to place design and programming are a key ingredient.”
All that said, it’s one thing to make this connection and another to know the best ways to approach it, as well as which changes will yield the best outcomes. After all, changing our urban designs isn’t fast, cheap, or easy to accomplish.