Our built environment is exacerbating the loneliness crisis

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: Our built environment contributes to a mental health crisis. The built environment as we know it—buildings and the spaces between— does direct damage to our minds . Communities developed slowly for thousands of years, but in 20th century America, the end of World War II introduced a massive population and construction boom. Land use planning has had devastating impacts on Americans—economically, socially, and culturally. But I’m not a doomer and I know these things are fixable. Not overnight reversible, but certainly fixable. Spreading us out Typical land use rules are written, updated, and enforced at the local government level. Agencies copied each other over the years—because why wouldn’t they? Much of what I’ve learned as an adult (podcasting, publishing, propaganda making, etc.) has been taught by generous people who themselves had learned tips and tricks. So, of course, public agencies copied each other. “Hey, that worked for a similar river city. Let’s try it here.” Planning departments at city and county levels weren’t setting out to guide development in a way that would purposefully harm us. Quite the opposite. If a new Sears distribution center was coming to town, they’d want to map out a plan to accommodate all the new employees and subsequent traffic. In the middle of the 20th century, planners were still very much concerned about separating dirty and/or dangerous land uses from residential areas. The result was that all across the country, local development rules required or incentivized development patterns that spread everyone and everything across the landscape: work zone, school zone, shopping zone, entertainment zone, and sleep zone. And then each major category started getting more prescriptive subcategories. “Residential” morphed into single-family, multifamily (apartments), and condos. But wait, there’s more! Residential land uses started to be regulated by local governments according to lot size: garden apartments, planned unit developments, and subdivisions were each given rules. Residential use was also regulated by the type of people living in a place: public housing, group dwellings, age-restricted dwellings, renters, and owners. Promoting sprawl Local regulations created (and continue to create) sprawl in cities and the suburbs. Land use planning requires traffic engineering analysis, a process prioritizing car movement above all else. Wider roads and intersections are not just suggested but required, with the express goal to move car traffic from zone to zone as quickly as possible. When in doubt, they add more car lanes. This has been going on for nearly 100 years—without taking a foot off the brake. Cars and loneliness The obvious outcome of modern land use planning is that Americans drive everywhere all the time. Not just work commutes, but all the errands before, during, and after work. Half of our car trips are less than a few miles long. A quarter are less than a mile. Less than a mile in a car by ourselves . Driving is forced on Americans as the only reasonable way to get around. For most, it’s...

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