Things fall apart

Americans used to live within “place-based networks” of clubs, churches, schools, commerce, and recreation that overlapped, wrapping individuals in social support. Local networks protected individuals from isolation and loneliness.

Those networks have largely disappeared, replaced by networks based outside the local community. We shop and interact ... See more

Without spaces that cultivate belonging and a shared sense of purpose, why do we expect anything other than high rates of loneliness, polarization, and attacks on our Capital building?

In the modern era, the satisfiers for needs have often been appropriated by large centralized organizations such as the nation-state or multinational corporations. Such satisfiers are decontextualized — they are not unique to place and culture and their ownership, management and control is not embedded in the communities who depend on them. Satisfi... See more

1) Design’s strong relationship to the consumer-led marketplace has increasingly come to define designers’ role and potential; 2) the imperative to think and design in ever shorter horizons of time (time = money) and produce quick results encourages the de-contextualization of problems (all stakeholders are not served, social and environmental sust... See more

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

This orientation reinforces the idea that the city itself is something to be consumed, rather than co-created among its residents.

the hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which groups do not. It is about resources—which caste is seen as worthy of them and which are not, who gets to acquire and control them, and who does not. It is about respect, authority, and assumptions of competence—who is accorded these and who i... See more

Jean Twenge argues that technological change is the largest single driver of generational differences, in her book, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future. Putnam and Twenge both point to the “individualizing” or “atomizing” effect of new technologies of conv... See more

These three character -forming institutions, families, churches, and schools have left a void that may put undue burdens on public policy.

Collectively, they lack the gravity necessary to reestablish a sense of responsibility for the people and places around us.