Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
How do we hold onto friends and communities in a world that feels increasingly fragmented?
This timely collection explores how social connection unfolds across personal, physical, community and digital spaces. From loneliness to belonging, the collection explores the broader social forces that shape our interactions. Packed with fresh insights and accessible research, the contributors bridge theory and practice.
Offering practical strategies for policy and practice, this book charts paths to meaningful connection. An essential guide for policy makers, academics and anyone seeking deeper connections, it provides hope and action for a more connected future.
1. More than Loneliness: The Quest to Understand Social Connection -
Milovan Savic, Roger Patulny and Jane Farmer
Part 1: Personal Spaces
2. Male Friendships and Social Connections: Privileges and Pitfalls - Roger
Patulny
3. Older Filipina Australians Local and Transnational Connective Care
Practices - Earvin Charles Cabalquinto
4. Social Connection by Design: Finnish Approaches to Long-Term Care -
Jasmine Knox and Hannele Komu
5. Companionship in Times of Uncertainty: The Role of Pets for Families with
Children During COVID-19 - Shannon Bennetts, Sharinne Crawford, Tiffani
Howell, Fiona Giles and Kylie Burke
Part 2: Physical Spaces
6. Can Our Housing Environments Impact Loneliness? A Tale of Two Studies -
Marlee Bower, Caitlin Buckle, Jennifer Kent, Lily Teesson, Roger Patulny,
Laura McGrath and Emily Rugel
7. Urban-Rural Disparities in Social Network Profiles Among Older Koreans at
the Early Stage of the Pandemic - Pildoo Sung
8. The Rise of Parkrun: Collective Positivity, Rituals and Episodic
Togetherness in an Age of Loneliness - Nicholas Hookway and Zack Dwyer
9. United by Insects? Insects Control and Development of Social Connections
in a Large City - Oksana Zaporozhets and Olga Brednikova
Part 3: Community Spaces
10. Nature-Based Social Prescribing with Lgbtiqa+ Asylum Seekers and
Refugees: A Feasibility Study Using Friends in Nature - Nerkez Opacin,
Nicholas Hill, Sarah Bekessy, Ian Seal, Jill Litt,and Katherine Johnson
11. Social Connectedness in Pandemic Times: A Case Study of Australias
Italian-Background Community - Simone Battiston and Damon Alexander
12. Local Place-Based Social Connection in Urban Fringe Areas: Learning from
Resident Experiences - Jane Farmer, Tracy de Cotta, Annette Kroen and Andrew
Butt
Part 4: Digital Spaces
13. From Disruption to Digital Adaptation: Young Womens Social Connection
During Lockdowns - Jessica Franks
14. Technological Bridges and Digital Ambivalences: The Role of Technology in
Tackling Loneliness in Later Life - Barbara Barbosa Neves
15. Digital Pathways to Social Connection and Mental Health on the Urban
Fringe - Milovan Savic and Anthony McCosker
16. Improving Social Connection in Everyday Spaces: Some Guidelines for
Everyday Policy and Practice - Roger Patulny, Milovan Savic and Jane Farmer
Milovan Savic is Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology.
Roger Patulny is Professor of Sociology at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Jane Farmer is Professor of Health & Innovation at Swinburne University of Technology.
