ABSTRACT
In the chapter, I develop Simone’s (2012) understanding of infrastructure to discuss the interrelationships between the design of space and sociability, with the focus on loneliness. I suggest that the design of physical space, including the textures and compositions of materials, and their crafting and assembly, are constitutive elements in shaping how people come to occupy, interact with, and experience environments, and constitute the ‘possibilities and constraints for what can be done’ (Simone, 2012, p. 1). It follows that how people interact with each other is dependent, in part, on the infrastructural qualities of space, including the physical forms of buildings and the spaces in-between. I discuss three examples of ‘affirmative infrastructure’ premised on resisting the colonization of space by specific or singular values, and, instead, supporting people’s capacities to enter, access, and use spaces as part of a process to enhance sociability and well-being.
