Thesis: Utopian or dystopian interpretation of “Public spaces are anti-social spaces.”
Used to be that people grew up within 20/30 miles of where they were born. They knew the whole community - literally - because those were the people they spent their whole lives with. Now people move around more and don't know their immediate neighbours, interacting only with people with the same interests or traits as themselves.
To get people having meaningful interactions they have to be in a space they wanted to go to and want to stay in.
There is a trend in modern times to have a reduction of the number of public spaces - many of them becoming privatised. Public spaces are being used less. The distribution of public spaces is also unequal (wealthy suburbs get more greenspace).
Face-to-face interpersonal communication - has been altered by media consumption.
What constitutes a public space? Why do people go there? For example a train station could be considered a public space, but people only pass through so little social interaction occurs there. A park is a public space and people go there with friends and family to talk and interact with each other, but you rarely interact with strangers in a park - we actively discourage children from interacting with strangers (particularly adults) in parks - is it any wonder we don’t meet new people in parks.
Idea: Serve tea (actual tea) and have people sit at tables with other people whom they don’t know, encouraging communication with strangers.
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