ABC for Meaningful Meetings - for reduced loneliness and increased well-being in the local environment

Purpose and goal:

The purpose is to create knowledge about how meeting places can be better designed and used to increase social interaction and strengthen community.

The goal is to develop models, processes and tools that can be implemented in different parts of society to enable meetings that tackle loneliness.

The project looks at the design of a meeting place as well as activities and working methods, and how these in combination create the right conditions for meaningful meetings and a sense of belonging. Expected results and effects:

The project aims to develop a methodology for the creation, use and management of meeting places in the local environment that contributes to a sense of community and togetherness, and that reduces loneliness.

The project will propose and test different ways of working to "activate" meeting places, with the goal to find models that increase the likelihood of people taking part in the meeting place and the community. All processes are built to be scalable and spreadable. Approach and implementation: The project runs over four years and consists of six work packages

- Project Management - Communication - sharing insights with a broad target group - External Monitoring - compiling existing knowledge - Design Test - prototyping and tests

- Create Meeting Places and Meetings - one or more meeting places, with associated working methods as well as methods for long-term management, are created - Studies and Evaluation - documentation and dissemination in academic and popular science publications