37)  Small moments of attachment.

Almost a quarter of the population says they have no one to talk to. We can do something about. We can design build in-person interaction into our cities, into our workplaces. An increasing urban population is going to have very beneficial gains. Why is this so? Intimacy is the opposite of loneliness and it breaks the invisible barrier of the domestic walls. 

While the amount of floor space the average individual has in his or her home is increasing, the number of human interactions he or she will experience has been declining steadily. Real social interaction create biological and economical force field against disease and decline. 

Making eye contact, shaking hands is enough to release oxytecin which increases our level of trust. Those asking for more rooms, more bathrooms, larger bathtubs, mega screen, triple livings, private park, private garden lower their cortisol levels.

We are one of the most loneliest societies there has ever been. Urban priorities changed because infections became the risk. However, social isolation has heralded a decline in open-mindedness and a deepening of our misunderstanding of others. 

The more we add to the sum of human loneliness, the more we decrease the quality of the life within the society.

Most of the economic models are built around scarcity and growth. Exploding population, small planet, ugly architecture. Some things matter more than money. Let’s image we take away land speculation and begin to lift a heavy burden on the homeless. Let’s image we multiply the space available and then factor in the green spaces (including green terraces and roofs), so that we end up with more nature than we would have without the building.

It is more beneficial to build visually striking, fully efficient, real living spaces within reasonable budget and limited areas. Across the world, space, both in terms of availability and quality, is the resource that defines the capability of people to develop. Small spaces add large value to other people’s life.

Our common sense suggests that big important problems need to be met with big important, and most of all, expensive solutions. So the power of reframing things cannot be overstated.

We can connect to a broader sense of the human condition rather than just design to please a few wealthy clients. We can start looking at how to prevent human rights violations where they begin; at the ground level. This is not in court houses but where we live and where we work, eat, sleep, learn, and play, where we spend our lives. Why imaging a better world matters? Because transitions are dangerous times.