How Should Organizations Be Held Accountable for Promoting Environments That Foster Social Connection?

Abstract

Growing familiarity with health risks of loneliness and isolation underscores the importance of social connection in patients’ lived environments and communities. Deficits in social connection are linked to poor cognitive, mental, and physical health and premature death. Design interventions for physical environments—structures, spaces, and soundscapes, for example—can foster social connection, support, and resilience. This article canvasses urban interventions that can support human health investment and development. This article also suggests that designers of community policies, programs, structures, and spaces should be accountable for promoting social connection to help generate measurable health outcomes, such as longevity.