Apr 18, 2007
If you were to walk along the streets of your neighborhood with your face up and an open expression, how many of those who passed you would smile, or greet you in some way? Smiling is a universal human practice, although readiness to smile at strangers varies according to culture. In Australia, where being open and friendly to strangers is not unusual, the city of Port Phillip, an area covering some of the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, has been using volunteers to find out how often people smile at those who pass them in the street. It then puts up signs that tell pedestrians that they are in, for instance, a "10 smiles per hour zone".
A waste of taxpayers' money? Mayor Janet Bolitho says the signs are an attempt to encourage people to smile or say "G'day" to both neighbors and strangers. Smiling, she adds, encourages people to feel more connected with each other and safer, so it reduces the fear of crime. In a related effort to get its residents to know each other, the city government also facilitates street parties. It leaves the details to the locals but offers organizational advice, loans out barbecues and sun umbrellas, and covers the public liability insurance. Many people who have lived in the same street for years meet each other for the first time at a street party.
All this is part of a larger program attempting to measure changes in quality of life, so the city council knows whether it is taking the community in a desirable direction. The council wants Port Phillip to be a sustainable community, not merely in an environmental sense but also in terms of social equity, economic viability and cultural vitality.
Port Phillip is serious about being a good global citizen. Instead of seeing private car ownership as a sign of prosperity, the city hails a declining number of cars - and rising use of public transport - as indicating progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging a healthier lifestyle in which people are more inclined to walk or ride a bike. The city is also seeking less energy-intensive designs for new buildings.
Some local governments see their role as being to provide basic services like collecting rubbish and maintaining roads - and, of course, collecting taxes. Others promote the economy by encouraging industry to move to the area.
The Port Phillip city government takes a broader and longer-term view. It wants those who live in the community after the present generation have gone to have the same opportunities for a good quality of life. To protect that quality of life, it has to be able to measure all the varied aspects that contribute to it, and friendliness is one of them.
For many governments, preventing crime is a higher priority than encouraging friendship and cooperation. But, as Professor Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has argued in his recent book Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, promoting friendship is easy, cheap, and can have big payoffs in making people happier. So why shouldn't it be a focus of public policy?
Very small positive experiences can make people not only feel better about themselves but also be more helpful to others. In the 1970s, American psychologists Alice Isen and Paula Levin conducted an experiment in which some randomly selected people making a phone call found a 10 cent coin left by a previous caller and others did not. All subjects were then given an opportunity to help a woman pick up a folder of papers she dropped in front of them.
Isen and Levin claimed that of the 16 who found the coin, 14 helped the woman, while of the 25 who did not find a coin, only one helped her. A further study found a similar difference in willingness to post an addressed letter that had been left behind in the phone booth: those who found the coin were more likely to post the letter.
Although later research cast doubt on the existence of such differences, there is little doubt that being in a good mood makes people feel better about themselves and more likely to help others. Psychologists refer to it as the "glow of goodwill". Why shouldn't taking small steps that may produce such a glow be part of the role of government?
Here is one measure of success: during the past year and a half, the proportion of people who smile at you in Port Phillip has risen from 8% to 10%.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today! |
© 2023 The Guardian
Peter Singer
Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University. His 1975 book "Animal Liberation" was a touchstone for the animal rights movement. A selection of his many books include: "Practical Ethics" (2011 edition), "How Are We To Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest" (1995), "One World: The Ethics of Globalization" (2016), "The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Food Choice Matters" (2007), and Singer's most recent book, "The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty" (2019).
If you were to walk along the streets of your neighborhood with your face up and an open expression, how many of those who passed you would smile, or greet you in some way? Smiling is a universal human practice, although readiness to smile at strangers varies according to culture. In Australia, where being open and friendly to strangers is not unusual, the city of Port Phillip, an area covering some of the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, has been using volunteers to find out how often people smile at those who pass them in the street. It then puts up signs that tell pedestrians that they are in, for instance, a "10 smiles per hour zone".
A waste of taxpayers' money? Mayor Janet Bolitho says the signs are an attempt to encourage people to smile or say "G'day" to both neighbors and strangers. Smiling, she adds, encourages people to feel more connected with each other and safer, so it reduces the fear of crime. In a related effort to get its residents to know each other, the city government also facilitates street parties. It leaves the details to the locals but offers organizational advice, loans out barbecues and sun umbrellas, and covers the public liability insurance. Many people who have lived in the same street for years meet each other for the first time at a street party.
All this is part of a larger program attempting to measure changes in quality of life, so the city council knows whether it is taking the community in a desirable direction. The council wants Port Phillip to be a sustainable community, not merely in an environmental sense but also in terms of social equity, economic viability and cultural vitality.
Port Phillip is serious about being a good global citizen. Instead of seeing private car ownership as a sign of prosperity, the city hails a declining number of cars - and rising use of public transport - as indicating progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging a healthier lifestyle in which people are more inclined to walk or ride a bike. The city is also seeking less energy-intensive designs for new buildings.
Some local governments see their role as being to provide basic services like collecting rubbish and maintaining roads - and, of course, collecting taxes. Others promote the economy by encouraging industry to move to the area.
The Port Phillip city government takes a broader and longer-term view. It wants those who live in the community after the present generation have gone to have the same opportunities for a good quality of life. To protect that quality of life, it has to be able to measure all the varied aspects that contribute to it, and friendliness is one of them.
For many governments, preventing crime is a higher priority than encouraging friendship and cooperation. But, as Professor Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has argued in his recent book Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, promoting friendship is easy, cheap, and can have big payoffs in making people happier. So why shouldn't it be a focus of public policy?
Very small positive experiences can make people not only feel better about themselves but also be more helpful to others. In the 1970s, American psychologists Alice Isen and Paula Levin conducted an experiment in which some randomly selected people making a phone call found a 10 cent coin left by a previous caller and others did not. All subjects were then given an opportunity to help a woman pick up a folder of papers she dropped in front of them.
Isen and Levin claimed that of the 16 who found the coin, 14 helped the woman, while of the 25 who did not find a coin, only one helped her. A further study found a similar difference in willingness to post an addressed letter that had been left behind in the phone booth: those who found the coin were more likely to post the letter.
Although later research cast doubt on the existence of such differences, there is little doubt that being in a good mood makes people feel better about themselves and more likely to help others. Psychologists refer to it as the "glow of goodwill". Why shouldn't taking small steps that may produce such a glow be part of the role of government?
Here is one measure of success: during the past year and a half, the proportion of people who smile at you in Port Phillip has risen from 8% to 10%.
Peter Singer
Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University. His 1975 book "Animal Liberation" was a touchstone for the animal rights movement. A selection of his many books include: "Practical Ethics" (2011 edition), "How Are We To Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest" (1995), "One World: The Ethics of Globalization" (2016), "The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Food Choice Matters" (2007), and Singer's most recent book, "The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty" (2019).
If you were to walk along the streets of your neighborhood with your face up and an open expression, how many of those who passed you would smile, or greet you in some way? Smiling is a universal human practice, although readiness to smile at strangers varies according to culture. In Australia, where being open and friendly to strangers is not unusual, the city of Port Phillip, an area covering some of the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, has been using volunteers to find out how often people smile at those who pass them in the street. It then puts up signs that tell pedestrians that they are in, for instance, a "10 smiles per hour zone".
A waste of taxpayers' money? Mayor Janet Bolitho says the signs are an attempt to encourage people to smile or say "G'day" to both neighbors and strangers. Smiling, she adds, encourages people to feel more connected with each other and safer, so it reduces the fear of crime. In a related effort to get its residents to know each other, the city government also facilitates street parties. It leaves the details to the locals but offers organizational advice, loans out barbecues and sun umbrellas, and covers the public liability insurance. Many people who have lived in the same street for years meet each other for the first time at a street party.
All this is part of a larger program attempting to measure changes in quality of life, so the city council knows whether it is taking the community in a desirable direction. The council wants Port Phillip to be a sustainable community, not merely in an environmental sense but also in terms of social equity, economic viability and cultural vitality.
Port Phillip is serious about being a good global citizen. Instead of seeing private car ownership as a sign of prosperity, the city hails a declining number of cars - and rising use of public transport - as indicating progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging a healthier lifestyle in which people are more inclined to walk or ride a bike. The city is also seeking less energy-intensive designs for new buildings.
Some local governments see their role as being to provide basic services like collecting rubbish and maintaining roads - and, of course, collecting taxes. Others promote the economy by encouraging industry to move to the area.
The Port Phillip city government takes a broader and longer-term view. It wants those who live in the community after the present generation have gone to have the same opportunities for a good quality of life. To protect that quality of life, it has to be able to measure all the varied aspects that contribute to it, and friendliness is one of them.
For many governments, preventing crime is a higher priority than encouraging friendship and cooperation. But, as Professor Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has argued in his recent book Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, promoting friendship is easy, cheap, and can have big payoffs in making people happier. So why shouldn't it be a focus of public policy?
Very small positive experiences can make people not only feel better about themselves but also be more helpful to others. In the 1970s, American psychologists Alice Isen and Paula Levin conducted an experiment in which some randomly selected people making a phone call found a 10 cent coin left by a previous caller and others did not. All subjects were then given an opportunity to help a woman pick up a folder of papers she dropped in front of them.
Isen and Levin claimed that of the 16 who found the coin, 14 helped the woman, while of the 25 who did not find a coin, only one helped her. A further study found a similar difference in willingness to post an addressed letter that had been left behind in the phone booth: those who found the coin were more likely to post the letter.
Although later research cast doubt on the existence of such differences, there is little doubt that being in a good mood makes people feel better about themselves and more likely to help others. Psychologists refer to it as the "glow of goodwill". Why shouldn't taking small steps that may produce such a glow be part of the role of government?
Here is one measure of success: during the past year and a half, the proportion of people who smile at you in Port Phillip has risen from 8% to 10%.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.