These kinds of in-building social programs can be vital forms of support. In our newest feature story, “Practical and emotional supports are close to home,” Rose, a full-time worker and caregiver with a seemingly impossible to-do list, shares how the West End Seniors' Network’s Close to Home program brought practical supports (like social meals and buddy outings) to her, her mom, and their neighbours.

Read more about what Close to Home is, how it’s delivered, and how it rippled through the building, creating a sense of belonging and fostering neighbourly connections between residents.

Rose’s story probably resonates with most of us. At Hey Neighbour Collective, we’re constantly working to communicate how important it is to bring support, services, and opportunities for connection as close to home as possible for the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of residents.

But how we navigate our homes and access these programs evolves over the life course. The Aging in the Right Place project, in collaboration with Hey Neighbour Collective, interviewed older adult residents participating in Oasis programming across Metro Vancouver to really understand what this looks like.

This beautiful digital storytelling video shows how efforts to foster social connection among neighbours can have a resounding impact– whether it’s having someone to check on you if you fall, or people to share a meal with. Community-based care and support can help people age in the right place, while fostering a deep sense of home and belonging.

Over the past five years, HNC's demonstration partners piloted a wide range of social connectedness programs across a variety of contexts, such as shared meals in social housing and emergency preparedness workshops in market condominium buildings.

We’ve seen striking consistencies across them all: residents deepened their connections with their neighbours, felt an increased sense of safety, and felt a developing and increased sense of leadership.

Our short Igniting resident leadership post distills these and other key findings around the benefits of in-building social programming for residents. For a deeper dive, see our Five-Year Evaluation Report.

While in-building social programming is incredibly important, the way our spaces are designed also plays a major role in shaping how people connect.

Have you ever heard of the “Paradox of Proximity”?

Bloxhub, Denmark’s Nordic hub for sustainable urbanism, describes it this way: “Stacking homes, offices, and cafés close together doesn’t automatically create real connection. Crowded streets and shared spaces can easily become backdrops for strangers passing by without a single word.”

And, in their latest book, The Paradox of Proximity, the authors describe this as the “paradox” of people living close together while feeling far apart.

The book is a brilliant collection of insights and innovations from experts around the world exploring how urban design shapes social well-being. Hey Neighbour Collective is also featured, as HNC project director Michelle Hoar speaks about ways to intentionally design and program multi-unit housing to spark everyday neighbourly encounters, and, over time, foster deeper, more meaningful connections.

If you’re curious to learn more about what we mean when we talk about intentional and sociable building design, you’re in luck.

Last year, we partnered with Happy Cities and SFU Renewable Cities to host Building Social Connections in Practice, a national training cohort for planners focused on practical policy and design tools that nurture well-being in multi-unit housing. This three-part workshop series used a peer-learning model to share best practices and explore real-world policy challenges in designing buildings that foster social connection.

All of the resources are now publicly available!

That’s a wrap on this edition. Stay tuned and stay connected! Below, we offer a superb list of articles, podcasts, and publications that we found inspiring.

Until next time,

The Hey Neighbour Collective team

What we're reading and listening to

• Guest column: ‘Without SHINE, a lot of seniors would really struggle’ (Prince George Citizen News)

• We've Lost the Spaces That Foster Friendship (Psychology Today)

• Deepening Understanding of Oasis, a NORC-Based Program: Perspectives from Housing Partners (Canadian Journal on Aging)

• The Friend Raft (The Loneliness Project)

• Why Loving Moments With Strangers Carry Lasting Benefits (Greater Good Magazine)

• Connection: Another Personal Responsibility? (Design for Happiness)

• Building Connection by Design (YouTube podcast, Tomorrow Tribe)