Social Cities

March 2012 Social Cities Jane-Frances Kelly The housing we’d choose Social cities Grattan Institute Support Grattan Institute Report No. 2012-4, March 2012 Founding members Program support This report was written by Jane-Frances Kelly, Grattan Cities Program Director. Peter Breadon, Caitrin Davis, Amelie Hunter, Peter Mares, Daniel Mullerworth, Higher Education Program Tom Quinn and Ben Weidmann all made substantial contributions. We would also like to particularly thank Meredith Sussex, Daniel Khong, Alan Davies, Andrew Leigh, John Stanley, Tim Horton, Brendan Gleeson and Brenton Caffin, as well as the members of the Grattan Cities Program Reference Group for their helpful comments. The opinions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily Affiliate Partners represent the views of Grattan Institute’s founding members, affiliates, individual National Australia Bank board members or reference group members. Any remaining errors or Google omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Grattan Institute is an independent think-tank focused on Australian public Senior Affiliates policy. Our work is independent, practical and rigorous. We aim to improve policy outcomes by engaging with both decision-makers and the community. Wesfarmers Stockland For further information on the Institute’s programs, or to join our mailing list, please go to: http://www.grattan.edu.au/. Affiliates This report may be cited as: Kelly, J-F.; Breadon, P.; Davis, C.; Hunter, A.; Mares, P.; Mullerworth, D.; Weidmann, B., 2012, Arup Social Cities, Grattan Institute, Melbourne. Urbis ISBN: 978-1-925015-22-5 The Scanlon Foundation All material published or otherwise created by Grattan Institute is licensed under a Creative Lend Lease Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Origin Foundation GRATTAN Institute 2012 1 Social cities Table of Contents Overview ................................................................................... 3 1. What is social connection, why is it important, and what does it have to do with cities? ............................................. 4 2. City structure ..................................................................... 13 3. Neighbourhoods ................................................... ............. 21 4. Streets ............................................................................... 30 5. Buildings ........................................................................... 41 Conclusion ............................................................................... 49 6. Appendix – ideas for social connection in cities ................ 50 7. References ........................................................................ 61 GRATTAN Institute 2012 2 Social cities Overview Australians have made enormous progress in thinking about how training grounds are available nearby, and it is easier to organise to make cities more productive and sustainable. Yet we lag a picnic if you can walk to a local park. Streets can prioritise cars behind in understanding what makes a social city – a city that or pedestrians. Being able to move easily by car is convenient, helps to connect us with other people. but heavy traffic in residential areas diminishes contact between neighbours. We tend to hurry past a building that presents a blank Humans are social animals: relationships are critical to our wall to the street, whereas an open facade can create inviting wellbeing. A lack of social connection leads to loneliness and spaces to stop and talk. isolation, experiences far more harmful than previously realised. This report explores these and other aspects of our cities. While it There are worrying signs that isolation and loneliness are is not comprehensive, it draws together a wide range of current increasing in Australia. Data shows that people’s friendships and knowledge into a single document. A clear thread running through neighbourhood connections have diminished over the past two our findings is that people attract people: we like (and need) to be decades. Our changing population means these trends could get around one another. worse. Of course we are not suggesting that city design is the answer to Already a quarter of Australian households consist of people living every challenge. Many influences on the quantity and quality of by themselves and this is the fastest growing household type. social connection are not related to urban form. Nor are we People living on their own are more likely to experience suggesting there is a crisis – relative to many countries, indicators loneliness. Australia is an ageing society, and older people have a of social connection in Australia remain positive. But if our cities higher risk of isolation, as do other groups like sole parents and are to absorb larger populations and improve quality of life for all, people with limited English. they will need to meet our social as well as our material needs. What does this have to do with cities? The way we build and Many issues facing our cities are enormous, difficult, and organise our cities can help or hinder social connection. At worst, expensive to tackle. Residents often feel they have no say in failed approaches can ‘build in’ isolation, with long-term damage decisions affecting them. But improving social connection is not to quality of life and physical and mental health. necessarily hard or costly. In many cases big returns can come For example, inefficient urban transport networks see much of our from small outlays, as shown by examples in our appendix. day swallowed up by commuting, leaving us less time for friends Conversely, the loneliness and isolation that result from neglect of and family. It is simpler for people to get together to play sport if our social needs will cost individuals and society dearly. After all, cities are for people. GRATTAN Institute 2012 3 Social cities 1. What is social connection, why is it important, and what does it have to do with cities? 1.1 Social connection is critical to our wellbeing invariably report thinking of family and friends. Social connection refers to our relationships with others. More There is a deeply ingrained idea that people will always seek to specifically, social connection is meaningful, positive interaction satisfy material needs (like the need for food and shelter) before between people. It makes us feel that we matter, that we are worrying about psychological needs (like the need for human engaged with others and that we are embedded in networks of contact). However, close study of human behaviour suggests this mutual appreciation and care. idea is misleading: the Young Foundation's fieldwork reveals young people going without food in order to keep their mobile We form connections at three different levels: intimate personal phones topped up, leading the Foundation’s former chief and family relationships, links with a broader network of friends, executive, Geoff Mulgan, to conclude that “the human need for relatives and colleagues, and collective connection – our feeling connectedness” outweighs “almost everything else”.3 of belonging in our communities.1 All these levels of connection are important – from the close regular contact with loved ones to The true importance of social connection becomes most apparent incidental interactions on the street. when it is absent. Loneliness can be severely damaging. Research shows that social connection is crucial to wellbeing. It is worth noting that there is no opposite for the word ‘lonely’ in This is not surprising. Humans have evolved in an environment the English language, just as there is no opposite for the word where group membership is essential to survival. Neuroscience ‘thirsty’. When we are not lonely – and we spend about 80% of research suggests that over tens of thousands of years our need our waking hours in the company of other people – a fundamental to deal with other people fundamentally influenced the structure of need is being met. the human brain. In a literal sense, the need to socialise and connect made us who we are today.2 Loneliness can have serious health consequences, with a similar impact to high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, or Reflecting this, people place great value on personal relationships smoking.4 Loneliness also has a major impact on how we assess and understand that they are a fundamental source of happiness our own health: as Figure 1 shows, people who feel lonely once a and wellbeing. If you ask a room full of people to close their eyes day or once a week, rate their personal health much lower than and visualise what is most important to them, the majority will people who only feel lonely once a month or once a year. 1 Cacioppo and Patrick (2008) 3The Young Foundation (2009), p.26 Mulgan (2010a) 2 Ibid. 4 House, Lambis and Umberson, as cited in Cacioppo and Patrick (2008), p.5 GRATTAN Institute 2012 4 Social cities Figure 1: Frequency of feeling lonely and self-assessed health, member of a social club to owning a pet, was associated with an 5 Australia, 2009 increased chance of survival. Fewer people died in neighbourhoods where people knew and 60 trusted their neighbours, than in a nearby area with weak social connections.7 Australian research also shows that older people with stronger networks of friends live longer.8 40 It’s no surprise that solitary confinement is considered among the worst of punishments. The sensation of loneliness and the assessed health Ͳ 20 sensation of physical pain are both created by similar

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