Report: Tackling Loneliness through the Built Environment
The design of our neighbourhoods can play an important role in tackling loneliness and helping people connect. Our report Tackling Loneliness through the built environment (2022) sets out why the built environment matters for loneliness, what features make a difference to our experience, and how this can be achieved.
The report arises out of two seminars we held during the summer of 2022 which brought together designers, policymakers, planners, architects.
- Our first seminar looked at what we knew already about how the built environment and loneliness.
- Our second seminar identified what this meant for practitioners and how we could ensure that our built environment could help tackle loneliness in practice.
We found that the way we plan and design our built environment needs to encourage different kinds of interaction – we need bumping spaces like benches where we might see neighbours or acquaintances – so called ‘weak ties’. Alongside this we also need places for the creation of ‘strong ties’ where we develop and maintain real friendships, for example at community groups and activities. A ‘less lonely’ neighbourhood needs to have the right collection of buildings and friendly shared places which are liked by residents and are, therefore, comfortable to use and will foster encounters with others.
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By
Campaign to End Loneliness
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Published
Mar 29, 2023
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Subject Area
- Age-friendly Communities
- Social Connectedness / Social Isolation
- Mental Health and Wellness
- General Health and Wellness
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Audience
- Caregivers, Seniors & Volunteers
- Academics
- Funders
- Government (Politicians, Policy Makers) and Health Authorities
- Service Providers (Non-profits, Community Organizations, Local government)
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Category
- Best Practices
- Evidence-based & emerging practices
- Policy, Planning, & Procedures
- Research & Evidence
- Research & Reports
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