Why don’t more people live close to friends?
I&#x27;ve been wondering how related these feelings of distance and isolation in the middle of society are to <i>how</i> the area is designed.<p>I had always known for a long time the &quot;why&quot; I didn&#x27;t want to go out on weekends and such, but it wasn&#x27;t until I watched some of those videos from &quot;Not Just Bikes&quot; that it really, really struck me. I literally dread finding parking more than I enjoy finding friends.<p>And suburban (and frankly disturbingly high percentages of urban) America IME is a strange cross between in constant proximity of others, and constant suspicion of others. Like there&#x27;s just enough people around to not be alone, but not enough to feel safe for many.<p>There&#x27;s another comment in this thread positing that the social closeness of the old days broke down because of more urbanization, but it&#x27;s clear it&#x27;s <i>sprawl</i> that&#x27;s killing socialization.<p>The other day a friend and I were talking about cities since I complain a lot about this now, and we did a quick check: Houston is far, far LARGER than say, Zurich, but their population density is a fraction. Everyone lives in cars that don&#x27;t talk to each other, going to little boxes that mostly don&#x27;t talk to each other. And the parking lots required for people to travel to a restaurant or bar means that there&#x27;s less restaurants and bars.<p>Incidentally, I&#x27;ve found a single combination pedestrian&#x2F;bike trail near me, and it&#x27;s busier than the other trails, and people there are so much friendlier. It&#x27;s a joy to go, and I&#x27;m slowly realizing I may still be introverted, but being out and about without it being a chore actually alleviates a lot of my anxiety.