Community

Throughout history community wasn't just the people around you, they were survival. One of the greatest risks to a persons life was to be exiled from their community and left to survive on their own.

Community relationships led to many positive outcomes. Trade, health care, protection, social engagements and opportunities, and education passed down between generations. While these still exist in many forms, many people are now so distanced that they live in a type of isolation even whilst being amid an ocean of people. There is a vast and ever growing social distance between people.

Where once you might have known Tom the local egg guy on a personal level, the relationship is now purely transactional. You can now walk into a store, pick up your eggs, walk to the exit and pay a machine to complete the transaction, no human interaction required. The human factor is being removed from the equation.

The need for community is built within us all as a survival mechanism. While social security has to a large degree removed the requirement for community in terms of physical health and basic survival, for many of those without social community a void has been left behind, a need for connection. Where these voids have been created, what is filling this space?