The Foundation of a Healthy City Starts With Connection

If you want to fix your city, start with a potluck—not a policy.

That’s the message at the heart of Jeff Siegler’s powerful book Your City is Sick, and it’s one we often overlook. Siegler, an urban planner and civic pride consultant, believes the most pressing illness in our cities isn’t crumbling infrastructure or economic stagnation—it’s disconnection. A lack of social ties, not a lack of strategy, is what keeps places stuck.

“Community matters so much more than we give it credit for,” Siegler writes. “It is our connection to other people that ties us to our place.” It’s not the skyline or shopping options that make a place feel like home. It’s the people. And without meaningful connection to those around us, Siegler argues, our cities won’t mean much to us at all.

This isn’t just feel-good fluff. Social connection is a powerful force. It’s what builds resilience in hard times, generosity in good times, and motivation to care for shared spaces. “People will fight for their community,” Siegler says, “only when they feel connected to it.”

That’s why Siegler urges local leaders—and everyday residents—to change the way they think about civic improvement. Instead of chasing big-ticket projects like convention centers or brewery districts, he suggests something deceptively simple: get people together. “Invite some people over,” he says. “Throw a party, start a book club, run a trivia night. Get people out and hanging out with one another.”

It’s in those casual moments—on porches, at park picnics, on sidewalks—that the real work of community happens. “A sense of community,” Siegler notes, “only occurs in certain places. It does not occur online, it does not occur in traffic, and it does not occur on private property. We experience community in public places that are inviting, interesting, attractive and beckon us to linger.”

In other words, we need physical spaces that encourage interaction and a cultural shift that values relationship-building as essential civic work.

The payoff? Huge.

“The more people know their neighbors, the stronger their ties to their block and their community,” Siegler writes. They care more. They stay longer. They show up and participate. “By building connections between residents,” he argues, “a city will reap the rewards. Residents will grow more civil, politics will improve, the social fabric will grow stronger, roots will grow deeper, and people will grow attached to their town.”

That’s the kind of city we all want to live in.

So let’s stop waiting for someone else to fix things. Let’s walk across the street, knock on a door, and start building the social ties that make everything else possible.

Because when neighbors connect, communities heal.

Written by David L. Burton

MORE INFORMATION

Take the Engaged Neighbor pledge and become part of a movement! The pledge outlines five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge at https://nomoregoodneighbors.com. Individuals who take the pledge do get special invitations to future events online and in person. Contact the blog author, David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.com or burtond@missouri.edu. You can also visit his website at https://engagedneighbor.com.