A room with no agenda

Many attempts to address loneliness begin by identifying a lonely person and offering them a service. Public Living Rooms begin somewhere else: by changing the conditions around everybody.

The idea comes from Camerados, a grassroots social movement founded on the belief that people need friends and purpose through tough times. Its Public Living Rooms are open, informal spaces created by local people for their own communities. They can appear in libraries, shops, hospitals, schools, community centres and outdoor spaces.

There is no programme to complete. People can talk, help make tea, sit quietly or leave. Camerados describes the spaces as mutual rather than therapeutic: people look out for one another without trying to fix one another.

What makes it easier to come in

The model matters because it removes several small barriers at once. There is no requirement to declare yourself lonely. Conversation has objects and ordinary activity to gather around. Staying silent is permitted. Helping with the room gives someone a role without turning them into a client or volunteer with a job description.

A room can invite connection without making connection the price of entry.

Camerados’ published learning describes rooms shaped by the communities using them rather than delivered to a fixed professional template. When local people shape a room, they can decide how it is used and what they want to contribute.

The movement reports that more than 460 Public Living Rooms have been created since 2015, with almost 300 opening regularly. In a 2024 survey shared by Camerados, 90% of attendees said they felt more connected to other people. Those figures are reported by the movement itself, but they point towards a question worth taking seriously: what can other communities learn from these rooms?

What Bridging Tomorrow can learn

A room can be welcoming when people know what to expect, can join in at their own pace and have something ordinary to do together.

This strengthens three working principles in our connection project. First, design for return rather than instant intimacy. Second, give people something ordinary to do together. Third, do not make somebody prove their need before they are welcomed.

There is also a useful challenge here. A printable invitation can make one approach easier, but a card cannot create the place people are invited into. Connection requires rooms, benches, opening hours, affordable transport and people willing to keep returning. A welcoming invitation only helps if the place is accessible and people can afford to get there.