Health & wellbeing

Nadha Hassen: Feeling less alone is critical to our public health

To explore the link between public space and social connection, we spoke to someone at the forefront of the research.

Published on February 10, 2025

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What if we saw public space as public health?

 

From parks to plazas to school grounds, the spaces where we gather shape our wellbeing in ways we don’t always realize. They contribute to our physical and mental health, but they also have a big impact on how connected (or lonely) we feel. Research shows that social connection isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential. And the places where we live, work, and play can make or break it.

 

To explore the link between public space and social connection, we spoke with Dr. Nadha Hassen, a Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Nadha focuses on community-engaged research as a way to improve health equity in built and natural environments. She also works with Park People, supporting the evaluation of their programming.

 

Most recently, she collaborated with The Bentway on Rx for Social Connection: Public Space as a Strategy to Combat Loneliness, a report that highlights how public spaces can be powerful tools for reducing isolation and fostering belonging.

 

Ahead of the release of this new report, we spoke to Nadha about what inspired her work in this field, why social connection should be seen as a public health priority, and some key insights from her research.

 

 

What inspired your interest and research into this topic?

I’ve always been interested in built and natural environments and how we can support social connection for everyone. I was diagnosed with cancer about a decade ago. At that time, I was living in an apartment right in the heart of downtown Toronto. While I was going through treatment, I was actively seeking nearby green spaces that I could access as a part of my healing. This was before I really got into the research of spaces being important for physical and mental health. It was difficult for me to get places with limited energy and without a car. Ravines with stairs were off-limits and so were places that didn’t have enough options for me to sit and rest. That got me thinking about who has access to high-quality public spaces and who doesn’t.

 

What do we mean when we talk about social connection and wellbeing. Why is it so important?

Social connectedness is a combination of different aspects of social relationships, including the frequency of contact with others, personal relationships and engagement in the community. In the Toronto Foundation 2023 Vital Signs report, we learned that social ties are really at an all-time low, with quite a few adults feeling lonely most of the week and children who are school-aged feeling twice as lonely in comparison to pre-pandemic levels. If we’re looking to have an environment where people can have those interactions with family, acquaintances and even strangers, we need spaces where we feel safe, welcomed, and that meet our needs. Feeling like we’re not so lonely is critical to public health. It’s critical to everyone’s sense of wellbeing.

 

How do public spaces foster meaningful connections between people?

In my PhD, I focused on the experiences of racialized residents in underserved neighbourhoods in Toronto, especially how they used, accessed, and navigated public urban green spaces and the barriers they encountered.

 

In this photovoice study, residents were invited to go on greenspace visits and take photographs in response to prompts about issues like access, safety, belonging, and health and then participate in an interview to debrief their photographs and experiences. Some of the residents shared how they felt connected to their neighbourhood and had a sense of belonging; people knew them, people looked like them and people were friendly. And it was often when they went outside their neighbourhood that they felt more uncomfortable. In Toronto, in terms of public space and built environments, there are stark inequities across neighbourhoods, divided along racial and income lines. If we think about it from an equity perspective, how do we ensure equitable urban infrastructure that is accessible, of good quality and actually meets the needs of different communities? The residents had key insights and recommendations that we put forward in a co-authored community report.

 

Are there effective ways to design public spaces that enhance social wellbeing?

A project I collaborated on with The Bentway recently, Rx For Social Connection, is all about social connection and addressing loneliness. We wanted to understand how The Bentway’s public site and programming impacted people’s sense of connection and created opportunities for meaningful interactions. The two design aspects that people thought contributed most to their sense of connection and belonging were a place to sit and greenery around them. It’s incredible because it’s simple but also powerful. Having a place to sit and chat with someone — potentially in the shade if it’s a sunny day — has a positive impact on your wellbeing. It’s all about providing an environment where people feel like they can spend time and connect.

 

People actually met each other through these free accessible opportunities, which allowed them to make connections that they were able to maintain.

Nadha Hassen

Were there any surprising takeaways from your work on the Rx For Social Connection report?

What we learned from this evaluation is that a well-designed public space can help reduce loneliness by providing space for interaction. But in addition to seating and landscapes, people spoke to the importance of programming, like art installations or yoga or skating. People actually met each other through these free accessible opportunities, which allowed them to make connections that they were able to maintain.

 

What other actions can we take to foster connection?

I co-authored a policy brief on considerations for research, policy, and practice to foster social connection in the built environment. Also, in my work with Park People, one of the things that the organization does is connect people with resources and support them in animating local green spaces. Some of the early findings from our research show the incredible impact this has on connections as well. A majority of participants from the Sparking Change program — which supports equity-deserving community groups to transform their parks into powerful engines of community development — indicated that this program improved their sense of connection and belonging to their neighbourhood. People said that without that mentorship, grants, and training, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to become involved in their neighbourhoods in the same ways.

 

How does public space contribute to your own social wellbeing?

It’s definitely integrated into my social, physical, and mental wellbeing. I try to get outside for a walk every day – streets are also public spaces. I visit public spaces alone quite often too, often bringing a book with me, which can be nice just to be around other people. These are also the spaces where I meet up with friends. It’s often ‘let’s grab a coffee and meet in a park and chat.’ So, these spaces are also key parts of my own social network and creating that social cohesion.

 

Learn more

Visit Dr. Nadha Hassen’s website for more information about her research and upcoming speaking engagements.

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