Building Community: Social Isolation and the built environment – by Matt Finn
This paper aims to explore an often-underdiscussed and deeply impactful issue, social isolation, and how physical context influences social behaviors. We explore how human social behaviors and physical environments impact each other and place an emphasis on social isolation in suburban and rural communities. This research is part of the larger land-planning effort for Highlands Community Church, a real estate development on a 10-acre parcel of land in Dallas, Georgia, USA. This development is intended to test the hypothesis that increasing social connectedness is an effective strategy for improving resilience to modern adversities, namely social isolation.