The Trust Experiments

Levels of trust are collapsing around the world, as we spend more and more time alone. Our isolation has stark consequences for both individuals—disconnected people are less healthy, and less likely to succeed—and for democracy: low-trust societies like the UK and USA are more susceptible to polarisation and inequality.

In The Trust Experiments, the acclaimed urbanist Charles Montgomery shows that our loneliness is not our fault: it’s been designed right into our society. It’s in the single-family homes that discourage neighbourly contact. It’s in the car-dependent infrastructure that makes commutes solo affairs. It’s in the online algorithms that incentivize angry reactions over reasoned debate. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

From the baugruppen of Germany to the urban villages of Vancouver to the Utopias of Mexico, Montgomery takes us into intentional communities that have been designed to promote mingling, mutual aid and bridge-building. He visits online activists from Taiwan to Silicon Valley who are using consensus-based algorithms to debunk misinformation and strengthen trust. Drawing on these examples, he shows how we can redesign our housing, cities and online spaces for connection, and apply these lessons to our own lives in ways big and small.