f the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that human life is diminished without social connections and the experience of face-to-face interactions. Surveys of the impact of COVID-19 on health and wellbeing have found that one in two Australians report feeling “more lonely” since the pandemic,and social isolation has gained ground as a major public health issue in the last decade. Social thinkers have been documenting this trend for some time, with Robert D. Putnam’s book (2000) reporting the decline of social capital in the United States as long ago as 1950.The problem is that social isolation and loneliness place a huge strain on society and the economy, especially against the backdrop of financial crises, and the downward spiral of civic participation has the potential to make us even more vulnerable to the next (inevitable) extreme event. As Richard Sennett claims, referring to social ties in cities, “Society is deskilling people in practicing collaboration”– at the very time when we appear to most need these skills. But, perversely, through lockdowns, the pandemic has taught us all to practise collaboration in
