Troy D. Glover

Why Loving Moments With Strangers Carry Lasting Benefits New research finds that connecting with strangers not only boosts your mood—it helps build a kinder, more cooperative society.

Social interactions with strangers not only matter, but may actually be among the most transcendent parts of public life. greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item...

Together, we can cultivate communities that support stronger relationships (and joy) Now is the time. We are the people.

Building local friendships requires enough repeated interactions with former strangers to make meeting up a natural next step. Spending more time in our communities gives us time for those repeated interactions. www.linkedin.com/pulse/togeth...

What We Keep Doing Anyway On care, persistence, and the quiet work that holds us together.

The quiet scaffolding that holds the place together open.substack.com/pub/lenispoo...

Want to be part of a village? You might need to get out of your comfort zone If you've always dreamed of having a village but feel disconnected from your community, try these five tips. Plus: We want to hear from you. Tell us how you cultivate community where you live.

5 ways to get closer to your community

It may take a village, but it means we need to be villagers. www.npr.org/2026/01/30/n...

A good life is inconvenient. We need to escape the cult of convenience

The paradox of convenience: it promises more time, more ease, more freedom, but often delivers the opposite. The more we optimize, the more we isolate. open.substack.com/pub/israanas...

How to make – and keep – friends - The Washington Post Friendship is vital for our health and happiness, but we don’t always prioritize it. Today, we revisit advice from The Optimist’s Maggie Penman on how to find connection.

To form and sustain friendships, use “velvet hooks," the soft links that connect friends to one another. They can be anything from physical proximity to shared interests that naturally bring people together.
www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/pos...

Why Where You Live Is Crucial for Social Health - ASA Generations How our communities and local relationships can foster connection and social health, a pillar of health, well-being and longevity.

Cultural norms and everyday actions strengthen everyday interactions. Without people organizing activities, checking in on one another, and creating reasons to come together, even the most thoughtfully designed spaces will fall short of their potential. generations.asaging.org/why-where-yo...

The Core ‘Friend Group’ Is a Myth—and It’s Making Us Feel Bad About Ourselves A tight crew that does everything together isn’t that common, and it’s unrealistic for many of us.

The sitcom friendship fantasy is exactly that: a fantasy www.self.com/story/friend...

A Tale of Two Social Clubs What Real Hospitality Feels Like, and Why People Don't Stay Where They Don't Belong

The Third Place Belonging Test open.substack.com/pub/moregood...

Everyone wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager. There is a paradox quietly eating away at contemporary life, and you have likely felt it yourself.

We have fewer places to practice being human together, and so the effort required to do so increases. open.substack.com/pub/kasperbe...

Shawn Micallef: When Toronto is your office, finding places to sit and work becomes a part-time passion Called "third spaces" by urban planners — not work and not home, but for recreation and other activities — they include libraries, parks, community centres but also places where you

LOVE this article about spaces in which to hang out. Can we get the lanuage right, though, please? It’s third PLACE, not space. The distinction is academic, to be sure, but can we respect their different intellectual roots? www.thestar.com/opinion/when...

Belonging by Design: The Social Power of Pedestrian-First Streets London is one of many cities rethinking its car-first orientation and embracing a more holistic vision of urban life rooted in social connection. Car-free and car-light streets are most successful whe...

Creating socially vibrant streets requires more than physical redesign; it calls for honoring what exists, understanding community identity, and creating new ways for people to connect. urbanland.uli.org/belonging-by...

Your doctor wants you to party Why your next doctor's visit may include a prescription to join a book club or go to a party.

Two distinct, diverging paths are emerging on how to address the loneliness crisis: one in finding companionship in code, the other in community. There may be a third way: AI can help pair people together to meet in person www.businessinsider.com/doctors-pres...

The Loneliness Epidemic Is Worse Than You Think We’re living through a loneliness epidemic that’s reshaping both our minds and our bodies.

If loneliness is an epidemic, belonging is the medicine. But belonging isn’t built in a day. It happens in moments. www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-...

Getting to Know Your Neighbors Can Save Democracy As Americans spend more time home alone, meeting neighbors in shared spaces could help address political polarization.

Shared spaces are critical to addressing the existential threat posed by polarization. Without these spaces, we effectively cede relationships, with friends and strangers alike, to social media algorithms designed to amplify division rather than bridge it. time.com/7337124/know...

Walkable Neighborhoods Help Adults Socialize, Increase Community Adults who live in walkable neighborhoods are more likely to socialize and have a stronger sense of community, report researchers at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human...

Adults who live in walkable neighborhoods are more likely to interact with their neighbours and have a stronger sense of community than people who live in car-dependent communities today.ucsd.edu/story/walkab...

Fight for a society that makes real connection easier than the fake kind thehumanist.com/commentary/t...

Opinion | Boy Crisis of 2025, Meet the ‘Boy Problem’ of the 1900s

Too many boys and young men are unwoven from the fabric of our society. This is dangerous for them and for everyone else. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/o...

The Great American Fitness Boom Pilates is surging. Gyms are packed. Americans are working out more than ever. A graph-by-graph guide to the fitness revolution sweeping the country

Gen Z is health-maxing in a way historically unique, at the same time that their withdrawal from physical social connection is similarly without precedent. www.derekthompson.org/p/the-great-...

MIT finds people walking faster and lingering less in public space Pedestrians are walking 15 per cent faster and stopping to linger 14 per cent less than they used to, according to a study from MIT's Senseable City Lab that hopes to guide the design of public spaces...

Evidence of a growing perception of city streets as corridors for movement rather than spaces for social interaction. Sad. www.dezeen.com/2025/07/31/w...

Designing a Connected Life

Join the movement and become a certified Connnection Builder member.chamberofconnection.org/designing-a-...

Trying to keep your brain young? A big new study finds these lifestyle changes help A study of more than 2,100 people ages 60 to 79 found that an intensive two-year program of mental and physical activities, along with a heart-healthy diet, improved memory and thinking.

Interesting that lifestyle changes such as physical activity and brain exercises are championed as ways to enhance brain health, yet the final line of the article says “socializing is one of the best ways to keep your brain young.” Get social, folks!

www.npr.org/2025/07/28/n...

Globe editorial: The dangers of isolation in a sweltering city In a heat wave, those cut off from community connections are far more likely to die

Building and bolstering multiuse social infrastructure offers a quicker and more affordable route to climate resiliency www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

With social prescribing, hanging out, movement and arts are doctor's order Doctors are writing "social prescriptions" to get people engaged with nature, art, movement and volunteering. Research shows it can help with mental health, chronic disease and dementia.

Doctors give 'social prescriptions' for fitness, arts and socializing

www.npr.org/2025/07/14/n...

The Case of the Sunshine Coast Bus Stop Chairs | The Tyee Take a seat! Up here, guerrilla infrastructure abounds. A Tyee photo essay.

Taking matters into their own hands: guerrilla infrastructure—such a cool term! thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...

The Happiest Cities in the World are Also the Most Bicycle Friendly The 2025 Happy City Index is in and the world's happiest cities are also some of the best places to ride a bike.

I learned this on my recent trip to Helsinki. The happiest cities are the most bike-friendly momentummag.com/the-happiest...

Canada’s survival depends not just on international trade, but also on social infrastructure It's time to invest in social prescribing, and build stronger communities that can weather the winds of global change.

#SocialPrescribing

www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/0...

Mark Zuckerberg Thinks You Don't Have Enough Friends and His Chatbots Are the Answer The CEO of Meta says "the average American has fewer than three friends, fewer than three people they would consider friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more.”

Though Zuckerberg’s remarks should always be scrutinized, I am curious what role, if any, parasocial relationships with AI will have in addressing (or complicating) social isolation and loneliness. www.404media.co/mark-zuckerb...

Social life, not density, makes city dwellers happy Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona, has people-friendly courtyards and a walkable design, which leads to success. The formula is explained in Happy City.

People are attracted to sustainable design and lifestyle, which draws them in. But they probably stay for the social interaction. www.cnu.org/publicsquare...

The Connection Opportunity More in Common’s two-year study of 6,000+ Americans reveals key insights into Americans’ interest in connection across lines of difference as well as the barriers that stand in the way.

The Connection Opportunity
Insights for Bringing Americans Together Across Difference by @moreincommonus.bsky.social moreincommonus.com/publication/...