How to Design Interpersonal Infrastructure in Your Community

Connection is often thought of as a personal responsibility, something each of us has to figure out on our own. Aaron Hurst thinks that framing is part of the problem. As founder of the U.S. Chamber of Connection, he's building an organization that seeks to tackle the problem of loneliness in a truly unique way: treating connection not as a personal challenge but as civic infrastructure that can be designed and built deliberately, even at the scale of a major city.

In this episode, Aaron shares what he's learned piloting the first-ever city onboarding program in Seattle, and why he believes building infrastructure for belonging is one of the most urgent civic challenges of our time.

Connect with Aaron Hurst:

• Chamber of Connection https://chamberofconnection.org
• The Purpose Economy (book) https://www.amazon.com/Purpose-Economy-Personal-Community-Changing-ebook/dp/B00JEMUB1S
• LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/aaronhurst

Check out more from Storylinking:

• Go behind the scenes of this episode: https://storylinking.com/blog/ep16
• https://storylinking.com (the full show site)

Key moments from this episode:

02:04 How stories shape belonging and why intentional narratives matter

08:46 Why authenticity is the starting point for any community initiative

12:01 The six points of connection and why having a framework changes the conversation

30:01 What community builders can do right now to create on-ramps for the people around them