Today we are not going to tear down a product or a service. We are going to tear down my life: my living arrangement at Radish Oakland, featured in Apartment Therapy as 'Oakland Commune, 19 Adults and 4 Babies'.
But Radish isn’t a commune; it's a community. 10 units with a central kitchen where we have dinner together nightly at 7:30pm. not because we have to, but because we want to. There’s a 'baby happy hour', spontaneous hot tub hangs and ping pong games). It's a project of friendship and intentionality, co-owned by around 25 people, including me and my husband, Phil.
Why do this? We designed Radish around what we call the Obvious Truth.
We are happiest surrounded by people we love and admire. These people make us the best possible versions of ourselves.
Here is an excerpt from Phils’ Substack (This is when you say ’Ahhhh’ or maybe ‘How weird’—couples quoting each other’s Substack in Substack ;)
Well no shit Socrates, you might say. We agree, no shit. This is an Obvious Truth.
Ask yourself this: Is your life actually built around this truth?
Most people's lives are not. And there's a reason. Our built environment—the way we design our homes, neighborhoods and cities—works against this Obvious Truth.
Our built environment doesn't serve connection and therefore doesn’t serve our happiness.
It wasn't designed to. It was designed to help us raise families in isolated homes to create psychological safety. It was designed to extract maximum rent per square foot by jamming faceless apartment units down anonymous hallways. It was designed to ensure ample parking and egress for vehicles. It was designed to make sure you never have to confront your neighbor, except in mercifully short elevator rides.
It doesn't have to be this way. It's just a question of design.
And so it’s no surprise that Phil is trying to change the built environment, not just with our little Radish setup, but with a broader initiative, Live Near Friends, and his newsletter, Supernuclear.
Live Near Friends makes it easy to find homes within a 5-minute walk from each other. The research he highlights shows that living within a mile of friends can increase the likelihood of you being happy by around 25%. Make it effortless to interact with friends and you enrich your life significantly.
At Radish, the proximity allows for spontaneous interactions. Socializing happens by default. Contrast this with the typical suburban life, where meetups require planning and travel.
This lifestyle is a conscious choice to prioritize relationships, an investment in happiness. It's about fighting the status quo of isolation and making it incredibly easy to have those micro-interactions that add up to a fulfilling life.
This is behavioral science applied… to life. By making a one-time, thoughtful decision to design my life around proximity to friends, I've set myself up for continuous happiness dividends (babies included).
Until next week, live well. And ideally, near friends.
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