Sublime

Robert D. Putnam.

the loss of these small groups, in favor of nation-level organization of atomized individuals, has had serious consequences for human welfare and human agency. We are missing a layer of organization essential for our happiness.

permanent settlements can become cultural self-constructed niches, where interdependence between humans and a set of technologies and rules of conduct become common to all and

Sociologist Elijah Anderson’s work on the “cosmopolitan canopy” showcases Rittenhouse Square and Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia—places that foster civil interactions among people from very different backgrounds. In these places, individuals change their behavior, often acting differently than they would in their own neighborhoods. Somethin

It is outside the home, in socioeconomic settings and through the experience and use of built spaces, that urban life becomes transformative.

Ray Oldenburg,

What values and practices can hold people together as the institutions in which they live fragment?