How You Arrive Shapes Who You Know
The ties that hold a community together aren't usually built through effort or intention. They're built through repeated presence in the same place at the same time. This piece explores the surprising science of how your commute, your transit stop, and the way your neighborhood is designed are quietly determining who you know — and who you never will.
But First, Regulation
Before connection can happen, the nervous system has to stand down. This piece explores why so many spaces — schools, offices, hospitals — are asking people to connect before providing the conditions that make connection physiologically possible. And what it looks like when design gets the order right.
Does Trauma-Informed Design Help Kids Feel Safe?
The research on trauma-informed school design is compelling. But what does it actually feel like to walk into a building designed with that framework? This piece takes the science into a real school on a Tuesday morning in August.
Loneliness is a Public Health Emergency. Design Can Help.
The WHO's 2025 report names social connection as a global health imperative. For those of us who design places — or simply move through them — it's also a call to look differently at the spaces we occupy every day.
Can the Built Environment be Designed for Social Connection?
What do we actually mean when we say "designing for connection"? This piece breaks down the question — how architecture, interior design, and urban planning shape our social health, and what the evidence says about what works.
Why Solitude Supports Social Connection
Connection to others requires first being able to connect to yourself. This piece explores the surprising relationship between solitude and social health — and what it means to design spaces that honor both the need to be with others and the need to step away.
What Helps Create a Connected Community?
A connected community isn't something that happens organically. It requires the right spatial conditions — and the right people in the profession to design them. This piece explores what the research says about community connection and why representation in design matters.
Takeaways from Harvard’s Forum on Social Connection
More than half of American adults say having close friends is essential to a fulfilling life. And yet the trend lines are moving in the opposite direction. This piece shares key insights from Harvard's forum on social connection — including what the research says about how the built environment fits into the picture.