When Healthy Places by Design first began exploring social connection as a core public health issue, the organization wasn’t starting from scratch; rather, it was building on decades of experience working alongside communities to shape healthier, more equitable places.
“We have experience working with local leaders and coalitions to help create the conditions for health, health equity, and well-being,” said Phil Bors, Senior Project Director at Healthy Places by Design. “Often that’s meant focusing on the built environment—public spaces, walkability, access to healthy food—but we started asking: what would it look like to apply that same thinking to social connection?”
That question would eventually lead to Activating Boston, a place-based initiative focused on reducing social isolation and strengthening neighborhood connection by reimagining how public spaces are designed, programmed, and experienced.
From Public Space to Public Connection
Healthy Places by Design has spent more than 20 years working at the intersection of community design and public health—supporting initiatives around active living, nutrition security, and other social determinants of health. But in recent years, growing attention to social isolation as a public health risk factor pushed the organization to broaden its lens.
“Social isolation has emerged as a critical, underrepresented risk factor in public health,” Phil explained. “Others have been studying it for years, but what we bring, along with other partners, is a perspective on the drivers of social isolation and what communities can actually do about it.”
Rather than treating loneliness as an personal issue, Healthy Places by Design focuses on the conditions that shape connection: neighborhood design, access to welcoming public spaces, and opportunities for people to gather within and across generations and cultures.
“There are potential connecting spaces in every community, and social isolation is also deeply felt in every community,” Phil said. “The question is how we recognize the assets that are already there and how we design spaces that make it easier for people to come together.”
A Boston-Based Partnership Takes Shape
Activating Boston emerged through a collaboration with John Hancock, whose long-standing commitment to longevity aligned with Healthy Places by Design’s growing focus on social connection.
Through a series of conversations, the partnership took shape around a shared vision: investing in Boston neighborhoods by activating existing green and public spaces in ways that foster belonging, connection, and community well-being.
Importantly, the initiative was designed as a pilot; a chance to learn by doing. The pilot initially supported two organizations, Asian Community Development Corporation (Chinatown) and Four Corners Main Streets (Dorchester), over roughly 12 months. The results were promising enough that John Hancock committed to expanding the work, funding a three-year initiative that is now at the midway point between two 18-month rounds.
To date, eight community-based organizations have participated across the pilot and two follow-up cohorts, with additional organizations beginning work in late 2025.
Choosing a Neighborhood-Scale Approach
Although Healthy Places by Design works nationally, Activating Boston requires a deep local strategy.
“We knew our limits,” Phil said. “We’re not based in Boston, so from the start we knew we needed local partners to help co-design and guide the process.”
Healthy Places by Design convened an advisory group that included city leaders, academic partners, and advocates with deep experience in aging and public health. Early collaborators included the AARP Massachusetts, Massachusetts Coalition to Build Community & End Loneliness, and University of Massachusetts Boston’s Gerontology Institute.
“These were natural partners for a social connection initiative,” Phil said. “Older adults are often at higher risk for social isolation, but we also know isolation can happen at any point in the lifespan.”
Together, the advisory group helped shape a hyper-local, neighborhood-based approach. Rather than working citywide, Activating Boston focuses on specific neighborhoods (and often sub-neighborhoods) where residents have a shared relationship with a particular park, plaza, small business district, or other public space.
“You have to work at a scale where people actually feel ownership,” Phil said. “That’s where real participation and co-design can happen.”
Using city data, including the Heat Resilience Solutions for Boston report, the group narrowed its outreach to five priority neighborhoods and invited more than 40 local nonprofits from those locations to apply. Eligible organizations had to demonstrate strong community ties and engagement experience, a commitment to equity, and a clear vision for activating public space in ways that would last beyond the grant period.
“We weren’t just asking what events they wanted to host,” Phil said. “We were asking: what will be left behind in the end? How will this space be more welcoming? How will residents help shape what happens there?”
Community Voice as the Foundation
While Healthy Places by Design sets basic expectations around engagement and equity, the real work of community connection happens through the grantees themselves.
“Community-based organizations are the experts in engaging their communities,” Phil said. “That’s why they rose to the top in the selection process.”
In Chinatown, for example, Asian Community Development Corporation brought its long-standing commitment to resident leadership and youth engagement into the Activating Boston work. Through artist-led co-design processes, residents were invited to reflect on their values, cultural history, and hopes for shared space, often starting with abstract ideas before translating them into imagery and physical designs.
“They asked people to draw what they feel about their community,” Phil explained. “What honors the culture and history here? What would make this space feel welcoming?”
Residents voted on design concepts, selected artists, and even participated in fabrication and installation. The result wasn’t just a redesigned space; it was a shared process that built trust, pride, and connection.
“That decision-making is baked into how they operate,” Phil said. “And that’s exactly why this works.”
Measuring What Matters
Evaluating social connection is complex, and Healthy Places by Design is intentional about balancing rigor with realism.
“It’s hard to measure what’s happening across an entire community,” Phil said. “So, we focus on what we can ask people directly.”
Working with UMass Boston, the initiative uses short surveys and on-site observations during activation events. Findings from the first round showed that more than three-quarters of participants reported a strong sense of belonging in their local community, and nearly 80% said they felt more connected to their neighbors as a result of Activating Boston events.
“We’re honest about the limitations of surveys,” Phil said. “People might say nice things because they’re enjoying an event. But we also don’t want to look past what people are actually telling us about how they feel.”
Equally important are the organizational impacts: how participating nonprofits shift their language, programming, and partnerships to more intentionally center social connection.
“What grantees really appreciate is having social connection as a lens to approach their programs,” Phil said. “Their work was already connecting people, but this helps them think about how to do it more intentionally and how to talk about it.”
Designing for Sustainability Beyond the Grant
From the outset, Activating Boston was designed with longevity in mind.
“One unique feature is that every grantee is required to develop a neighborhood priority plan,” Phil said. “Their plan essentially starts the day their initial grant project ends.”
These plans outline how organizations will carry lessons forward, whether through future site development, coalition work, or engagement with city planning processes. In Dorchester, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation is using the plan to advocate for long-term design and activation of a city-owned lot. In Chinatown, the Asian Community Development Corporation’s focus is on embedding social connection goals into broader neighborhood planning efforts.
“Sustainability isn’t just about additional grants and financial resources,” Phil said. “It’s about relationships, processes, and influence.”
Navigating Real-World Challenges
The work is not without obstacles. The grants that John Hancock and Health Places by Design are making to community-based organizations are modest, nonprofit capacity is stretched, and external pressures from funding instability to immigration enforcement directly affect community participation in neighborhood spaces. There are also bureaucratic barriers. Even seemingly small changes like installing lights in a park can require months or years of permitting and other processes. Still, the work continues because the need is ongoing.
“These organizations are committed,” Phil said. “But they’re juggling so many competing priorities.”
Building Places Where People Belong
At its core, Activating Boston is about more than events or physical improvements. It’s about cultivating a sense of belonging that can endure long after a grant cycle ends.
“This isn’t a one-time activation,” Phil said. “It’s about creating care—for people, neighborhood collaborators, and for each other.”
By investing in community leadership, honoring local culture, and designing spaces that invite connection, Healthy Places by Design and its partners are helping Boston neighborhoods do what they’ve always done best: bring people together.
Learn more about Healthy Places by Design’s work at healthyplacesbydesign.org or reach out to hello@healthyplacesbydesign.org.
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