Connection in times of COVID
Before COVID disrupted all our lives, the Talking Taboos and Common teams had been exploring the taboo of loneliness and what could help tackle it. In the last year we have experienced increased loneliness and isolation as we stayed home, were physically distanced and lost loved ones, but also enhanced closeness as communities came together and supported each other through acts of kindness, compassion and organised groups like mutual aid.
We believe that we need to tackle loneliness by creating more moments for local connections – spaces where we can meet and connect with people we live near, rebuilding a sense of community and potentially making new friends.
Design Solution: Enter... Connect Through Cooking
We need a solution that will nurture our communities, so we are arranging a cooking class with neighbours that will foster connections with people who live close to each other. We hope that in the summer months (restrictions pending) we can take this class outdoors into a street dinner.
We are designing our first events to include conversation prompts that we hope will help spark connections.
Links
If you’d like to read more about connecting with strangers here are a couple of the articles and resources we’ve found really helpful:
- Gillian Sandstrom’s amazing resources on talking to strangers
- Irrational Lab’s piece reframing the loneliness epidemic
People
Iria Lopez, Florence Nolan, Katherine Jennings, Kat Marczyk, Amanda Morrison, Michael Bond
Disciplines
Collective action, Public engagement