One thing we’re thinking about at the Scholar as we’re all shut away, working from home, is how much we depend—emotionally and logistically—on contact with other people. As coming together in public parks, offices, arts hubs, and community spaces has become verboten in the age of social distancing, what will happen to the urban commons in cities? Amanda Huron, an associate professor of interdisciplinary social sciences at the University of the District of Columbia, was thinking about the urban commons long before we started longing for it. She joins us on the show for a conversation about what “the commons” is and how we can protect it in the midst of a pandemic.

Go beyond the episode:

• Amanda Huron’s Carving Out the Commons and her other research
• Read about the disappearance of our host’s beloved punk rock houses
• “Our Cities Are Designed for Loneliness,” says Vice, while The Guardian asks, “What’s the world’s loneliest city?”
• There’s even a Loneliness Lab working to fight the problem of alienation in cities
• In an earlier issue, we wondered whether coffeeshops encourage conversation or isolation

Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.

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