There is a great concept on what connects us to places and communities - fringeships and it might be really useful in designing interventions how to connect and integrate lonely people in existing good communities and third places.
In Fingerman et al., a fringeship is a specific kind of weak tie that sits at the boundary between acquaintance and close friendship.
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It involves repeated interaction in a particular setting (for example, a class, workplace, club, or café), rather than one-off or purely incidental contact.
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Both people voluntarily recognize each other and interact in a friendly way, without the strong obligations of close ties or the stiff formality of many other weak ties.
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The central marker is mutual fondness or affection—liking the other person and feeling positively about encounters with them.
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Communication in fringeships usually blends casual small talk with occasional personal disclosure, creating connection without deep intimacy.
How Ties on the Fringe Can Help Beat Loneliness | Psychology Today United Kingdom
The full publication on SAGE is here