We Need to Rethink Space: How Space Is Needed for Personal Health and Planetary Health
Space is the secret part of health that doesn’t get so much attention. The space of privacy. The space to have time to yourself to rest. The space to give to animals so that they don’t spread deadly diseases to us. The space to be heard. Space is the component that weaves into all we need as humans.
I’m not surprised so many people are ill in our world as we’ve made modern life into a system whereby our space is constantly being invaded until we have none. Our mental space and our physical space have been rapidly eroded.
Let’s consider first the way we live in cities. We need to rethink cities. Cities are great for many things. They are great for being able to access food, clothing, healthcare. They are great for meeting people. They are great for being educated. They are great for finding work. But they are bad for space.
Unless you are rich you won’t have a lot of space between yourself and other people when living in a city. Your walls will join to those of others. Your outdoor space too (if you even have any.) Privacy is limited in a way that in the countryside for example it is not.
With the populations of cities booming this is a problem. In the next 100 years the vast majority of the global population will live in cities. A lack of space and privacy is a huge problem. No one wants to be hearing their neighbours and being bombarded constantly by their noises when trying to rest. And no one wants to have to think of whether they are upsetting anyone just because they want to listen to some music and dance.
The very fact that people live in busy cities makes having private and adequate space vital. Being bombarded by the cacophony of loud city sounds is exhausting and stressful. Everyone needs time to rest after being bombarded by the noises of a city and it’s very hard to rest when you don’t have adequate privacy or space.
Some people would argue that what you lose in privacy and space from living in a city is more than made up for by the advantages living in a city affords you. While to an extent this is true, it doesn’t solve the problem of privacy and space.
I don’t have a magic solution. But I do know we can design our homes better so that they offer more privacy. We can build them with greater gaps between walls, increased insulation, and other technology so that we can at least have the privacy of not being overheard by our neighbours.
And it’s not just physical space that is so vital to the future, it’s emotional and mental space. The whole world is in our homes now via our devices and the internet. It’s like a kid in a sweet shop. We have created the biggest resource of entertainment, knowledge, and communication ever in the history of mankind. And it’s all instantly accessible to us 24/7. And it’s exhausting.
We need ways to have space from the technology we have built and the spaces we have confined ourselves to. We are seeing a shift now with technology companies working in digital wellness / wellbeing features into their software to set constraints such as time limits of access to certain apps. Also features such as seeing how long we have been spending on them. It’s a good step but it’s not a solution and I doubt it’s helped many people to reduce their screen time. We instead need technology to have wisdom. To be able to know what is healthy for us, and what is not, and to direct us in making healthy choices. We need our technology to be able to respect our human need for space and to help us to take a healthy amount of it.
Ideally in the future our technology will know what is optimum for our health. It will be able to know what level of space we need each day to rest and it will tell us as such. It will also be able to scan our bodies and our living space to figure out what is best for our bodies in that moment. Whether we should rest or should get active etc.
Technology can and will help us to solve the space problem it takes up in our lives.
Another vital area where a lack of space is causing problems is with animals. Many pandemics such as the Swine Flu 2009 pandemic began because of a lack of space between humans and animals.
When we start to respect animal’s space then pandemics stop. If we give space to animals then the chances of having diseases pass from them to us are greatly reduced. Many pandemics were a human problem brought about by a lack of respect and a lack of space. We don’t need to bother animals. There is more than enough space for us to live without disturbing them.
When we find ways to respect and reclaim space, we will make ourselves, our communities, and our world healthier.
