Neighborhoods that Nurture: Why The Play-Based Childhood Requires More Than Just Putting Down the Phone

While technology can increase the quantity and efficiency of our connections, the relationships and social institutions we depend on so much for our well-being are rooted firmly in physical places.

there has been a far larger decline of neighborhoods that has little to do with material conditions. We are less likely to have personal connections with neighbors on our street, teachers in our kids’ schools, our local pastor or rabbi, or leaders in our community. Classmates don’t visit each other’s homes as much as they used to. In many neighborh... See more

In 1995, Alan Ehrenhalt wrote a book on three Chicago neighborhoods called The Lost City , observing:

In the 1950s they [residents] considered the streets to be their home, an extension of their property, whereas today [1995] the streets are, for many people, an alien place. A block is not really a community in this neighborhood anymore. Only a hou

... See more

Re-envisioning it means ensuring that every place is a part of a bounded neighborhood with a clear start and end and a commercial center, primary school, parks, civic associations, nonprofits, small businesses, and other physical assets and institutions that promote bonding relationships. Adjusting the tax system to favor local volunteerism and giv... See more