Will moving to a dense, walkable city make you less lonely? It depends.

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I decided to ask?Anthropic AI ?a question I’ve been wondering for a while: “Are people who live in dense, walkable cities less lonely on average than people who live in car-bound suburbs or exurbs?”

Here’s what their model Claude told me:

“There is some evidence that people who live in dense, walkable urban environments tend to be less lonely on average than people who live in sprawling suburban or exurban areas. Some of the reasons for this include:

• Increased opportunities for spontaneous interactions. In walkable cities, people are more likely to frequently interact with strangers and acquaintances due to sharing public space and transit. This can help combat loneliness and foster a sense of community.
• More diverse social networks. Living in dense urban areas exposes people to more diversity, and they tend to have more opportunities to form friendships with people from different backgrounds. This can expand people's social networks and support systems, which helps reduce loneliness.
• Less reliance on cars. In walkable cities, people are less reliant on cars and more likely to use public transit, walk, or bike. This allows for more opportunities for social interaction during the commute. Driving alone tends to be more isolating.
• More amenities nearby. In dense, walkable cities, people have access to more amenities within walking distance, including restaurants, shops, parks, and cultural attractions. This allows for more opportunities to interact with others, which can help combat loneliness and foster community.
• More communal space. Cities tend to have more public spaces where people can gather, interact, and connect with others. This can include parks, plazas, squares, and other shared spaces. These communal spaces facilitate more spontaneous social interactions, which helps reduce loneliness.

“Of course, this is not always the case and there are certainly lonely and isolated people in cities as well. But in general, dense, walkable urban environments do tend to facilitate more social interactions and community, which can help reduce loneliness compared to sprawling car-dependent areas.?(edited)”

I wish Claude had cited their sources. And I wish I had a better grasp of the literature. Because yes, while opportunities for spontaneous interaction, diverse social networks, etc. could reasonably decrease loneliness, I’m not sure they actually do on average in real life.

I looked into opportunities for spontaneous interaction and loneliness. This?study ?cited research showing decreased spontaneous interactions can lead to more loneliness and depression. It also found that during panny lockdowns depression increased while happiness and social satisfaction decreased.

Interesting, though unsurprising, findings include:

1. People who lived with more people were happier and less lonely, on average, than people who lived with fewer people. Other?research ?connects living alone to loneliness and earlier death and a?meta analysis ?shows objective and subjective social isolation are equally deadly to each other and are comparable to obesity and smoking.
2. Spontaneous online social interactions had no measurable impact on loneliness or happiness. However, the research on how online interactions and social media use impact loneliness and happiness are mixed. In short, if you’re connecting deeply with people online, that can alleviate loneliness and increase happiness. But if you’re just scrolling, you’ll probably feel lonelier and less happy than if you were doing something else. So don’t just lurk! Participate in the conversation!

On a gut level, I could really see this question going either way. On the one hand, a city offers more opportunities to meet new people and interact with people in-person during your daily routines.

Population density also means there are more ways to connect over niche interests. For example, in Huntsville we have a few BDSM groups who meet up regularly. But in SF there were not only more, but you could find a discussion group specifically for Dominants.

On the other hand, people living in cities are more likely to have moved there from other places. This means leaving their families and existing social networks. Which, by itself, seems like a necessary hit to connectedness. I read once that you need to make a certain amount of money above and beyond what you were making in your hometown to make up for the hit in happiness you experience by leaving your existing social ties.

While I missed (and miss) the friend group I made in Birmingham tremendously when I moved to DC, I found myself with a larger social network in DC than I had in Birmingham due to the concentration of people with similar interests.

It’s possible that the average person, (who is, by definition, a normie) is and would be less lonely in their hometown than if they moved to a large city as an adult. Maybe they don’t get to run into people walking to the grocery store or on the train to work. But they have their church groups and extended family and hang out at their high school friends’ houses.

Maybe I’m projecting here, but I suspect the people who move to big cities as adults are more likely to not be close to their high school friends, not go to church, and not be super close to their extended families. They’re also probably more likely to have niche interests.

The problem, of course, is that a lot of people who stay put aren’t going to church, aren’t close to their extended family, and don’t hang out at their high school friends’ houses. Those people, I suspect, would benefit tremendously if they moved to big cities. And they’d probably move if they could get high-paying jobs or if people with low and middle incomes could afford housing in cities.

Even if the average person would be happier and less lonely if they stayed put, I still believe building more housing in superstar cities would alleviate loneliness for a significant portion of people stuck in their hometowns. And it would grow the overall economy by billions, benefit the environment, boost public health, and increase happiness by helping more people find the highest paying and most meaningful work available.

But I’d be interested to know your thoughts, my babies. Are you lonely? Did you move to a city? Did it help or hurt? If you haven’t, why not? Would you move if housing were cheaper?