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Central Standard

Does Our City Bring Strangers Together, Or Keep Them Apart?

Jean
/
Flickr, Creative Commons

A recent article in the New York Times compiled a growing body of evidence suggesting that the more frequent our interactions with strangers, the happier we tend to be. The findings apply to introverts and extroverts alike. In response to the enthusiasm around that article, Central Standard asked whether the people of Kansas City encounter strangers often enough in their day-to-day lives. Does Kansas City's built environment facilitate or prohibit these kinds of interactions?

The city planner on our panel suggested that Kansas City offers relatively few opportunities for strangers to brush up against one another. Contributing factors include the massive scale of our downtown structures as well as a history of prioritizing investment in highways over investment in public transit. Our resident anthropologist explored the body language and "sidewalk ballet" of people in communal spaces, relating the centers of cities to the centers of our bodies... that is, our hearts.

The song that played at the end of this show was "Strangers" by the Kinks.

Guests:

People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.
Matthew Long-Middleton has been a talk-show producer, community producer, Media Training Manager and now the Community Engagement Manager at KCUR. You can reach him at Matthew@kcur.org, or on Twitter @MLMIndustries.
Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.