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.

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.

I recently had the honor of sitting down with the amazing NBC Texas Today host, Kristen Dickerson, to share ways to connect and how design can help heal loneliness.

Perched on white stool beside her, I was struck by something she said that is still rattling in my head today – that loneliness is such a sad word. And perhaps it is. I get it. No one wants to be lonely, and yet roughly 3 in 5 Americans are. Loneliness often feels like a personal fault, “what, no one wants to hang out with you?!” but that couldn’t be further from the truth, it is the trick that loneliness plays on our minds, and the way it grows in the darkness.

Working on a card for her new teacher my daughter hasn’t yet met, I ask “what message would you like me to write?” Cocking her head to the side and furrowing her brow, she considers, then looking up at me, says, “Dear Maestra… I love you so much… I hope you like me ok.”

Is there really a normal? And is it even something we should strive for? What is lost when we seek to conform?