Melbourne’s Federation Square, after years of controversy, proved how necessary and contested such space remains. Sydney is now facing the same reckoning. That absence matters more today than ever. Work has migrated to the home, shopping to the doorstep, friendship to the screen. As a result, loneliness is now a public health concern across much of the world. This is why cities should keep making squares, and make them well. A square is a remedy for isolation that asks nothing of anyone except to show
up. To show up is also to confront diversity. Here lies an even more important function. Modern society has invented something the Athenians and Romans could not imagine: the option of never meeting anyone we disagree with. Online, we block, filter and curate our way into bubbles of perfect alignment. Public space denies this luxury. You cannot mute a passer-by. You cannot curate the street. As a result, our social networks grow more resilient through what sociologist Mark Granovetter called “weak ties” – the connections
between people in different social circles that carry information and help hold a society together. At our lab at MIT, we have shown that when physical encounters decline, these ties erode with measurable consequences.
Sydney, Town Hall Square, public space, loneliness, public health, Federation Square, Mark Granovetter, weak ties, MIT lab, social connection
So basically they want people to just hang out outside? lol
I feel like loneliness is more about phones being everywhere, not about town squares. Like if people don’t want to talk, a square can’t fix that.
Wait is this saying Sydney’s Town Hall Square is failing because of “weak ties”? Sounds made up. Also I saw somewhere that social media is the only reason people are lonely now so they should just ban apps or whatever.
Public squares are great but they’re not exactly safe everywhere. I’ve been to places where it’s just homeless people and tourists and then everyone pretends they don’t see it. Plus “you cannot mute a passer-by” sounds nice until some random starts yelling. I don’t know, seems like MIT is trying to psychoanalyze city planning.