In the US, there used to be the idea of "sidewalk culture" - deliberately structuring cities so that different kinds and classes of people would meet, literally on the sidewalk, and from that would form, at least to some degree, a shared culture. There was the idea of deliberately breaking the silos that separate people. And maybe that even worked.
Worked. Past tense. In most of the US, it's now a car culture. And even in cities where people walk, it's now an earbud culture.
I'm not sure GP is accurate, even without that. The privileged descending to the lower quarters to hobnob with the masses is as old as civilization, and of course the working lower class generally have to go where everyone else is to serve them. If segregation is increasing, there are plenty of mechanisms to point to, also: anti-poor urban design protocol (including law enforcement-related), low/no-contact resource delivery, WFH, the increased cost of transportation and housing, etc.
It's not actually a surprise that society is bifurcating, is it? Not after the anaphasing of school demographics, voter behavior, and so on.
> In the US, there used to be the idea of "sidewalk culture"
> In most of the US, it's now a car culture.
In my experience cars have nothing to do with this. I grew up outside the US in a very car-required area.
And yet what you call sidewalk culture was and is the norm of daily life. You go outside, meet the neighbors, play board games on the sidewalks, have beers with them deep into the evening, simply hang out outside a lot. I miss this a lot.
In the US they invented an actual fake crime for the idea of hanging out outside - loitering. You try your sidewalk culture in the US and the police will show up to break up your illicit activity (eyeroll).
In the US you must be at home or at work or commuting between them, or spending money shopping or in some corporate-sanctioned entertainment venue.
Even take out the cars sidewalk culture is dead when the rich people are buying coffee for $7 and the working class are getting it from the self serve pitcher in the gas station. A lot of places today are highly economically stratified thanks to the prices of goods and services offered. It also doesn’t help that when people close their eyes and imagine “third place” somewhere that obligates you to spend money to be there comes up.
Worked. Past tense. In most of the US, it's now a car culture. And even in cities where people walk, it's now an earbud culture.