Full Description
This Open Access book reimagines social connection beyond the crisis narrative of loneliness, presenting an innovative interdisciplinary model that bridges individual experiences with community infrastructure. Drawing on research with urban fringe residents, the authors reveal how meaningful connections form through complex interactions across physical and digital spaces, shaped by environmental contexts and personal capabilities.
Beyond Loneliness offers a strengths-based framework through rich thematic analysis and six powerful, detailed personal narratives that illuminate connection journeys. It demonstrates how people actively navigate their social worlds and shows how contextual factors, including social, built, technological, and institutional, influence connection opportunities.
For practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, this accessible book provides practical insights for fostering environments where diverse pathways to social connection can flourish. By moving beyond deficit-focused interventions toward comprehensive strategies that recognise social connection as a dynamic, relational process, Beyond Loneliness offers a transformative approach to building more connected, resilient communities.
Contents
Chapter 1. Social Connection: An Interdisciplinary Model for Understanding and Action.- Chapter 2. Social connection in contemporary life: a case study of urban fringe suburb residents.- Chapter 3. Experiences of Connection and Isolation: Six Storied Stories.- Chapter 4. Making Sense of Social Connection: Towards an Integrated Model for Research, Policy and Practice.-Appendix 1.- Appendix 2. Project Resource Table.- Glossary.- Index.
