Gillian Sandstrom is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex. She arrived at this position, in part, by developing a “smile-and-wave relationship with a lady who worked at a hot dog stand” during her graduate studies. This relationship led to her studying further the interactions people have with weak ties. These are not the ‘strong’ ties people might have with a spouse, close friends, or co-workers. Rather, the weak ties in a person’s life will be the people seen only monthly or less, or maybe seen frequently but in a very limited way. You might not even know their name, but only recognize their face. Or maybe you will only interact with them one time in your life.
Her 2014 study titled Social Interactions and Well-Being: The Surprising Power of Weak Ties demonstrates that weak ties (with their brief exchanges or micro-encounters) are directly correlated with our social and emotional well-being. Those people on the periphery of our social network can have an out-sized influence on us mentally. (full study credit: Sandstrom GM, Dunn EW. Social Interactions and Well-Being: The Surprising Power of Weak Ties. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2014 Jul;40(7):910-922. doi: 10.1177/0146167214529799. Epub 2014 Apr 25. PMID: 24769739)
As Gillian Sandstrom says, “In general, people who tended to have more conversations with weak ties tended to be a little happier than people who had fewer of those kinds of interactions on a day-to-day basis.”
What is behind this result is that casual contacts are what affirm our belonging in this world and give us that feeling of being recognized by others. In some sense, our close ties (family, friends, etc.) are almost obligated to see and recognize us, but not so with weak ties.
This leads to why I have listed Gillian Sandstrom and her work. I believe that urban design and how the physical environment is structured can greatly enable and support people having more of these weak tie relationships.
Urban Design Elements Can Help
Of primary importance is that neighborhoods have good walking conditions. Sidewalks need to be present (preferably on BOTH sides of the street) and they need to be in good condition – no lifted blocks from tree roots, acceptable width for two people to walk, etc. These conditions will then allow and even encourage the dog walking in the neighborhood and people who exercise – running or walking. Those activities that then easily allow for micro-encounters with others.
Garbage night is important! And not just to move along the kitchen trash from the past week. Most communities these days will have curbside pickup for garbage and recycling. On the evening before garbage day, the neighborhood will be full of people taking their cans and bags out to the curb which presents an excellent opportunity to see that neighbor across the street and wave or say hello. Or maybe someone from several streets away will be walking their dog past your driveway as you walk down.
Related to garbage night is the set-up our garage has with the house. Most new homes and communities will have attached garages which do not support having casual contact / weak ties with other people. The attached garage allows everyone to drive onto their street, push the garage door opener from inside their car, pull into the garage, and then put the garage door down as they step right into their house. This doesn’t allow for any interaction with others. Imagine if all of our neighborhoods were transformed to have a detached garage that is even just 30-50 feet setback from the main house. Every trip back home would then allow for a moment to wave or say hello to the neighbors and capitalize (mentally) on those relationships.
The physical structure of our neighborhood blocks can also play a role. Most new developments feature winding suburban streets and cul de sacs; however, these can limit the number of points of contact for a given walking distance. Older neighborhoods, often in a grid layout, offer more options because of the numerous intersections and decision points and the lack of long, dead-end cul de sacs. As you can see in the diagrams below taken from actual neighborhoods, if a person living at the yellow-star house were to go on a 10 minute walk (5 minutes out, and then 5 minutes back along the same route), the grid layout (A) offers 4 times as many possible walking paths by total distance (miles) versus the cul de sac (B) layout. The chance to interact with a wider variety of people is significantly higher.
I consider myself an introvert and many would think I would be perfectly fine (if not elated) to have minimal contact with others, but during COVID lockdowns I found that to be completely untrue. Extensive time with close relationships was still mentally draining, but like Gillian Sandstrom and her daily interactions with the hot dog lady, I too crave the brief exchanges and micro-encounters with “weak tie” relationships. We can all benefit from those interactions and urban design plays an important role in increasing those moments of our lives.