After all, cities are where people are supposed to have serendipitous encounters—as the writer and critic Jane Jacobs said, “The metropolis provides what otherwise could be given only by traveling; namely, the strange.” By comparison, the cliché goes, people become more atomized the farther they move from urban environments into the clinical, safe,... See more

what’s happened during the COVID era as the continuation of a trend that began in the middle of the 20th century. When city dwellers were largely confined to crowded tenements, they were forced out into the world, which often meant hanging out with strangers in taverns. But as time went on, leisure became privatized. Living conditions improved;... See more

As many commentators have opined, the COVID-19 pandemic has occasioned a “Great Pause,” a “fertile suspension” that opened up “bountiful space and time for deeper wakefulness.” 2 We saw such wakefulness evidenced in the contemplation of community and injustice, the creation of mutual aid networks, and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter. And we... See more