Amidst all the crises we’re facing, folks are understandably overlooking the epidemic that nobody is talking about: loneliness. This problem has been plaguing humanity for decades and the pandemic is only making things worse, as some country’s are reporting that one in three people feel lonely. A recent Fast Company article highlighted the need for the United States to enlist a Chief Friendship Officer (basically my dream job). From my perspective, the solution to loneliness is less grandiose, even if it might be an initiative from the CFO’s platform. We need connected neighbourhoods that solve loneliness and create vibrant communities that foster diversity and shape our work from anywhere reality.
The importance of connected neighbourhoods
Humans are social creatures. High-quality social connections are essential for our physical and mental well-being. According to Marissa King, author of Social Chemistry, having vibrant connections make us smarter, happier, and healthier:
High-quality connections in your social network strongly predict cognitive functioning, emotional resilience, and satisfaction at work. A well-structured network is likely to boost the quality of your ideas, as well as your pay. Beyond the office, social connections are the lifeblood of our health and happiness. The compiled results from dozens of previous studies found that our social relationships have an effect on our likelihood of dying prematurely – equivalent to obesity or smoking.
According to Urbanist, Stewart Burgess, humans crave connections, both deep and shallow:
Even the committed misanthrope secretly enjoys a grunted ‘hello’ with a neighbour. Well connected communities can be designed or evolved to help mitigate loneliness through spaces of casual encounter, [such as] porches, steps, parklets, neighbourhood groceries, or cafes. You want some intentional friction points that force individuals to safely confront ‘the other’ and recognize they are not alone.
My family recently moved to a new neighbourhood in Victoria, BC and the realized opportunities for connection and vibrance through the social, natural, and built environments are very clear. Our kids, who were understandably nervous about the move, have perfectly blended into the community of over 25 kids in the neighbourhood. The converging driveways in front of our home combined with the social gravity of kids connecting have generated “intentional friction points” for our family.
Socializing remote workers
Where are your watercooler conversations happening these days? I engage in a few each week, but my organization, the BC Pension Corporation is not fully engaged in hybrid work yet, so my adhoc socializing that used to be done en route to the lunchroom often unfolds on the cul-de-sac with parents and kids or with my wife (who is her own person) over lunch together.
There are so many opportunities to reimagine these casual, micro-moments within our worklife. For example, products, services, or experiences that make up my portfolio of work (in Victoria one-in-three people in a checkout lineup are served by a BC Pension Corporation plan) can be tested in neighbourhoods amidst diverse stakeholders.
Imagine the opportunities for insights gathering from a diverse group of stakeholders that is ethical and innovative, as opposed to walking down the hall to test an idea with a member of the Finance team from the same organization. Neighbours represent the untapped potential of social connections that enhance engagement and productivity.
Cultivate diversity
There is socio-economic similarity, which often drives ethnic similarity, in neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood we left in East Vancouver was on an awesome mix of settlers, immigrants, gentrifiers, and indigenous folks. While I could always count on some version of an echo chamber within my circle of best friends, book club, or professional connections, my neighbours always challenged me with ideas and experiences that, at times, made me a bit uncomfortable.
According to HBR’s David Rock and Heidi Grant, while it might feel more comfortable to engage with folks who share our background we should be mindful of our comfort. When our workplaces and neighbourhoods are made up of individuals who do not look, talk, or think like us then we can disrupt pitfalls of conformity, mitigate bias in decision-making, and elevate innovative thinking.
Accelerate the real, sharing economy
Great neighbourhoods reduce the need for people to buy more stuff. After all, the average cordless drills are used for less than 20 minutes in its entire lifetime, which seems like a great opportunity for sharing instead of owning. This helps the real economy, which, according to the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), is measured by directly supporting the production of goods and services, as opposed to focusing primarily on buying and selling in the financial markets. By facilitating the transaction of goods and services that benefit the people within that community, tight neighbourhoods can also operate within a circular economy because people don’t need to buy as much new stuff.
Within two weeks our neighbours have lent ladders, childcare, cooking supplies, car rides, bikes, food, clothes, and trusted advice. Sharing economies create economic access and social connections that make communities more resilient and vibrant.
Keep things safe
Physical and psychological safety underscore the potential of every community. Great neighbourhoods are safe because of how they are designed and maintained as well as by the way citizens use the space. According to Public Square’s Robert Steuteville, when streets are built in the context of safely caring for citizens, communities flourish:
Streets are the bones of a community, and bones are designed according to where they are in the body. Imagine if you had a femur on your finger. It would not work well. Similarly, the streets must be designed according to what is around them, and the activities that are needed and desired. That’s what context-based street design is all about. If a street is primarily designed to move cars, it won’t support social connections, small businesses, walking, or many of the other vital aspects of community life. In cities or towns, streets are public space.
Safe streets give peace of mind to parents and also allow people, not cars, to use the space for social and productive purposes.
Have fun with it!
Working with joy helps us realize professional potential the way that working and living with joy helps us thrive. In the past two weeks I have participated in two epic soccer games (with kids and adults) that left everyone involved feeling more connected. This experience builds on five years of sidewalk chalk drawing, block parties, and trampoline shenanigans within my East Van neighbourhood, which fostered vibrance and connection through joyful activities that spanned generations and cultures.
As the work from anywhere reality emerges and employees everywhere reimagine what work is, who does it, and how it happens, let’s ensure that the communities in which we work and live bring us joy (and that it’s a little bit contagious, too).
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This article was originally published on September 15, 2021