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Make things better by making better things.
Most neighborhoods (whether intentionally or not) are designed to isolate us. We have to commute to most jobs, fences draw the lines, Amazon and DoorDash eliminate the need for grocery shopping, Zoom allows us to skip seeing our coworkers, and many simply don’t engage in civic duties outside of presidential elections.
There’s less and less reason to talk to your neighbors.
When we don’t engage in the community, we feel less of a need to be part of it, which further isolates us.
When the community fails, community problems also fall by the wayside. We become complacent in trying to keep up with the pace of the digital world; we assume the basics should work properly, like institutions and ideals (such as democracy). And then, it fails. (Slowly then suddenly.)
This means someone else must come in to solve our problems—something larger, less personal, and more disconnected—someone who doesn’t know how things are done around here. And rarely, does that mean we are happier with the results.