As our planet rap­idly urb­an­izes — 120,000 people move into cit­ies every week in Asia alone — more of us will find ourselves liv­ing in large cit­ies, far from the bonds of com­munity that may have exis­ted in the small towns and sub­urbs of days gone by. Seema Dug­gal finds out why Jona­thon Welch says “isol­a­tion and loneli­ness are the biggest chal­lenges we face in the 21^st cen­tury” and asks why we need Social Inclu­sion Week. Does your city need one?

Big city liv­ing has its many appeals – anonym­ity, unlim­ited choices and end­less oppor­tun­it­ies among them. How­ever, in such a vast sea of faces the indi­vidual hab­it­ants often find them­selves walk­ing on their own, and iron­ic­ally, it is the places with the most people that can often be the loneliest.

Recog­nising that the notion of com­munity is void within many cit­ies,  Dr Jona­thon Welch AM of Australia’s Choir of Hard Knocks star­ted Social Inclu­sion Week to address the issue of social frag­ment­a­tion and its many cata­strophic effects – depres­sion, isol­a­tion and sui­cide among them.

“Through my work with char­it­ies and com­munity organ­isa­tions over the past three dec­ades, I have wit­nessed a num­ber of the chal­lenges facing Aus­trali­ans, from home­less­ness to men­tal ill­ness and drug abuse,” Jona­thon said.

“But one of the things that really stood out for me was how pre­val­ent the issue of social exclu­sion is. I truly believe that isol­a­tion and loneli­ness are the biggest chal­lenges we face in the 21^st century.”

The places with the most people can often be the lone­li­est. Tri­angle Park, Amerikamura, Osaka | Photo by Jess Scully

The para­dox of social exclu­sion is that it is so wide­spread, and the people who feel the effects of it are far from alone. From teen­agers to young couples to the eld­erly, loneli­ness is pre­val­ent within most house­holds. The good news is, such an out­come can be eas­ily avoided – if people start to band together and real­ise they do not have to be so distant.

“I think people really do under­es­tim­ate just how import­ant it is to feel con­nec­ted and cared for,” Jona­thon said. “Yes, we need the essen­tials like food, water and clean air, but to really grow and prosper not just as indi­vidu­als, but as a soci­ety, we also need love, friend­ship and support.

“That’s why I cre­ated Social Inclu­sion Week – to not only draw aware­ness to the issues of loneli­ness and exclu­sion, but to give people the excuse they need to do some­thing about it.”

Jonathon’s idea to start Social Inclu­sion Week was con­ceived many years ago when he first moved to Sydney, recall­ing what was meant to be one of the best times in his life as one of the lone­li­est. He knew that any­one who has left their friends behind in sim­ilar vain was bound to relate.

“If we are to move for­ward as an accept­ing, inclus­ive soci­ety, we need to take a stand against the frag­ment­a­tion of our com­munity, and we need to take respons­ib­il­ity to con­nect with one another and sup­port each other,” he says.

“We need to be a com­munity that truly cares not just about ourselves, but those around us who need a help­ing hand.”

So, Social Inclu­sion Week. Did some­body say street party? That’s would be cor­rect. National Street Party has been cre­ated to encour­age the com­munity to get together, share a bbq and finally get to know one another’s name. it is on through­out Aus­tralia this week­end, Novem­ber 28–29.

This story ini­tially appeared as “Throw a party, make a friend” on Side Street, Sydney, a blogazine ded­ic­ated to the city of Sydney and the com­pet­ing pas­sions of its people and its admirers.