“Lately, I’ve been having an alarming amount of conversations arise about the burdens of loneliness, alienation, rootlessness, and a lack of belonging that many of my peers feel, especially in the Bay Area”,
which made me wonder if there are geographical areas or cities in the western world that have a particularly high level of connection and community? Maybe those cities could be studied and promising cultural characteristics be spread to other cities and communities?
Although I can’t comment on the sense of community felt by the local residents, I observed and to some extent experienced this in Spain. I’d say the key was the combination of high urban density and availability of shared spaces. Another factor could be the low price of eating/drinking outside the home - - I’d say this facilitates socializing since it’s easier to say “Let’s meet at X at 9pm [Spanish people have dinner very late!]” rather than having to prepare your house to host guests. There’s a joke that you only go into a Spanish person’s flat for a wake (which is an exaggeration, but somewhat based on truth).
Someone also mentioned to me that it is culturally more normal in Europe for people to socialize after work, likely due to some of the factors I mentioned. Cal Newport recently implied that this may have been the case in other countries pre-television. It’s also socially acceptable to take children to most events, even late into the evening.
Unfortunately, these aren’t really cultural characteristics, as I’d say it’s fundamentally based in the high urban density.
Nice post. Your friend wrote that
“Lately, I’ve been having an alarming amount of conversations arise about the burdens of loneliness, alienation, rootlessness, and a lack of belonging that many of my peers feel, especially in the Bay Area”,
which made me wonder if there are geographical areas or cities in the western world that have a particularly high level of connection and community? Maybe those cities could be studied and promising cultural characteristics be spread to other cities and communities?
Although I can’t comment on the sense of community felt by the local residents, I observed and to some extent experienced this in Spain. I’d say the key was the combination of high urban density and availability of shared spaces. Another factor could be the low price of eating/drinking outside the home - - I’d say this facilitates socializing since it’s easier to say “Let’s meet at X at 9pm [Spanish people have dinner very late!]” rather than having to prepare your house to host guests. There’s a joke that you only go into a Spanish person’s flat for a wake (which is an exaggeration, but somewhat based on truth).
Someone also mentioned to me that it is culturally more normal in Europe for people to socialize after work, likely due to some of the factors I mentioned. Cal Newport recently implied that this may have been the case in other countries pre-television. It’s also socially acceptable to take children to most events, even late into the evening.
Unfortunately, these aren’t really cultural characteristics, as I’d say it’s fundamentally based in the high urban density.