Mycelia is Resilience

How resilient are you?

Think of a spider web. The more finally webbed, closely meshed the threads, the stronger it is likely to be.

The believe the same analogy can be used when thinking about human resilience. The more social connections we have, the more resilient we are to negative external forces. COVID showed this.

Strong resilience in a community is gold dust! It's the stuff that makes great places, reduces loneliness and mental health issues. Keeps antisocial behaviour in check and makes for enriching relationships: people are proud of where they live and are likely to stay longer.

I like to think of resilience as soil mycelia. A vital source of network energy that we often forget about, hidden from view and little understood. How do we grow the spider web of human ecological resilience? How do people in cities make friends?

In London, it is estimated that 700,000 Londoners feel lonely "always" or "most of the time" presents a fresh wake-up call for everybody invested in the health of Londoners and the health of communities (Greater London Authority research).