Why Cities Feel Lonely

Cities are the most crowded places humans have ever built, yet loneliness is often at its worst there. Millions of people live within a few kilometres of one another and still speak to almost nobody all week.

城市是人类建造过的最拥挤的地方，可孤独感却往往在这里最严重。几百万人住在彼此相距几公里之内，却几乎不跟任何人说话。

Density is not the same as community. A village of five hundred people may know its own members far better than a tower of five thousand does.

「密度高」不等于「有社区」。一个五百人的村子，成员之间的了解，可能远胜于一栋住着五千人的大楼。

Modern city life quietly removes the small, repeated encounters that friendship actually grows out of. When every errand is handled online, neighbours gradually stop becoming familiar faces.

现代城市生活抹掉了那些细小而重复的碰面 —— 而友谊恰恰是从这些碰面里长出来的。当每件杂事都能在网上办完，邻居就不再变成熟悉的面孔。

Some cities are now trying to design those small encounters back into the street. Benches, shared gardens and slower streets all create small reasons to stop and speak.

现在一些城市正尝试把这些碰面重新设计回来。长椅、共享花园和放慢车速的街道，都在制造「停下来聊两句」的理由。

None of these measures will cure loneliness on its own or by itself. But they recognise an uncomfortable truth: being surrounded by people is not at all the same as being known.

这些措施没有一个能单独治好孤独。但它们承认了一个让人不太舒服的事实：被人包围着，和被别人认识，是两件事。