Loneliness and Social Isolation

Loneliness is all the rage these days.

Not quite so much that President Trump will appoint a Minister of Loneliness, a la the United Kingdom.  But it does seem that every news outlet has done a cover piece on loneliness, social isolation and the health implications of both.

You may have heard that sitting is the new smoking.  Well then, loneliness is the new sitting.

According to the experts, it’s worse than obesity.  Worse than physical activity.  Worse than air pollution.  Even worse than smoking 15 cigarettes per day[i].  Loneliness leads to depression, cognitive decline, dementia, cardiovascular disease, disability and early death[ii].

That’s quite an indictment.

So why one more post in a seemingly unending string of articles?

Because I get it.  And I feel like I’m a living lab for testing all these theories.

Advice for Community Developers

One of the articles that actually got to the what-to-do-about-it stage, was by Miriam Axel-Lute, editor of Shelterforce[iii].  She described 7 ways community development professionals can impact residents’ social isolation.  Much of what she recommends, I just went through or made a decision about within the past year.

Axel-Lute’s advice to community development professionals includes:

Community Development Advice	How these strategies are playing out for me.
1. Fight involuntary displacement.	We voluntarily uprooted – leaving a 20 year career position, colleagues, friends, neighbors, home, etc.
2. Include or take advantage of good “third places.”	Our home is adjacent to a well-equipped public park and trail; and within an easy bike ride of downtown.
3. Design housing that facilitates social interaction.	We have a small front porch, sidewalks, group mailboxes, fairly high density living – all of which should facilitate social interaction.
4. Understand how mixed income communities interact.	Our street includes public housing, market rate rental, moderate town homes and higher end single family homes.  From my perspective, there is very little inter-group socialization.
5. Use different housing tenure models that encourage neighbors to feel part of a community.	We are being tempted by a co-housing development across town that is just getting ready to break ground.
6. Assure good transit and accessibility.	We are right on the bus run and did significant remodeling to make our home accessible.
7. Organize in the community.	The only evidence of community organizing I have seen is our neighborhood association.  It had a terribly negative and combative year; and has become the poster child for how not to engage the community.

So… how do all these add up for my own experience of community development and social isolation?

Let me start by adding a caveat.  I went from working full-time and being very active, to working part-time from home and being very limited in the amount of outside the house time.  That has a huge isolating impact.

Having said that, all of the factors that Miriam Axel-Lute listed are spot on.  Let me share my experience on just a couple of them.

Involuntary Displacement Is a Social Disaster

Even a voluntary relocation is dramatic and traumatic.  The slate gets wiped clean.  Sometimes a clean slate is attractive and even adventurous, but the progress you have made is gone too.  Maybe it is social capital or the amount of effort it takes to get resettled, or even get through a day.  Everything familiar, supportive and routine is gone.  In so many ways, you’re starting back at square one.

I can’t imagine how much worse an involuntarily displacement must be.  Once uprooted, those roots may never grow back.  A very social life may become one of unrelenting loneliness.

Third Places Can Make a Real Difference

Nearly a year of walking 3+ miles daily on the trail next to our house has been therapeutic and socially rewarding. Many familiar faces, some of whom I know by name and chat with regularly, make me feel part of… something.

My outlook would be very different without easy access to that park and trail system.  How much of that is due to connecting with nature and how much due to connecting with people, I’m not sure.  But I’m extremely grateful for its immediacy.  And I firmly agree with the recommendation that everyone would be better off living within a 10 minute walk of a park or green space.

How Do Mixed Incomes Factor Into the Loneliness Equation?

This is the one area that I’m not sure is completely in sync with decreasing social isolation.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m a big fan of mixed income communities, and we chose this one with intention.  What I’ve witnessed in the 11 months we have been here is that the social interaction tends to stay within some very broad income strata, rather than across income strata.

Do people tend to shy away from those in significantly higher or lower income bands?  Probably.  If so, the very presence of diverse incomes decreases the pool of perceived eligible friends and associates.  And this may increase the possibility of social isolation.  That’s not enough reason to segregate based on income, just my perception on how this pocket community interacts.

So what?

Loneliness and social isolation have such immense impact on individuals’ health.  Community developers and planners that ignore them do us all a disservice.  If you’re building a community from scratch, these 7 community development principles listed above are a good starting point.

The critical partnerships to leverage might include:

• An architect and/or urban planner with the perspective and skill set to align the residential units for maximum social interaction.
• Programming and vendors to equip whatever third space is available to attract meaningful participation by all ages and backgrounds. This can include furnishings, fitness equipment, kitchen and dining facilities, and programming to encourage healthy behaviors and increase social interaction.
• Marketing, communication and community organizing entities that will assure that residents are fully informed and engaged.

  

You’ll need a slightly different set of tools if your community is already built out.  How can we take an existing, rather average community – or a segment of a community – and change the dynamics?  How do we turn it into a vibrant, inclusive, mixed income, social champion?

I’m not sure, but I do believe it’s possible – if you engage the community and the right partners.

Let’s take a look at some of those anti-loneliness strategies in existing communities next time.

 

[i] Holt-Lunstad, et al. 2010

[ii] Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2014

[iii] Axel-Lute, Shelterforce, July 24, 2018