We Built Isolating Places. Can We Get Out?
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People are lonely. Is it because we are addicted to our phones, or is that a symptom of larger design choices we made when building our places? We cover some...

People are lonely. Is it because we are addicted to our phones, or is that a symptom of larger design choices we made when building our places? We cover some of the general concepts related to social infrastructure an try to evaluate what to do next.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    5 months ago

    Modern suburbs are a manifestation of the neoliberal mindset, which is summed up in this well known quote from Margaret Thatcher:

    …who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families…

    Detached, single family homes on their own parcels of land, with clearly defined borders. Each plot is like its own sovereign territory. That is not a society, that is a rejection of society.

    But this arrangement wasn’t established for no reason, it was done out of a desire for freedom and independence. With society comes shared culture, language, traditions, beliefs and expectations, things that can limit one’s individual freedom. So, you reject the larger society, procure your own piece of land and form your own micro society where you and your family can have whatever culture, speak whatever language, and practice whatever beliefs you want. Of course this is very isolating, but freedom and independence often are. A totally free and independent person is a person who is totally alone.