Designing In-Person Social Infrastructure
In early 2023, I began exploring how to help create more opportunities for people to connect in everyday life and have lasting and meaningful interactions with strangers. Around that time, I came across the Surgeon General’s report on loneliness and the growing national conversation about the importance of social connection, giving me confidence I was on the right track.
As I attended events and visited familiar places, I started noticing a common challenge, that even in events and public venues full of people, there often wasn’t a clear way to meet new people. There was no obvious way to signal openness to conversation. And it suddenly hit me: why aren’t there clearly marked areas, created by the places we visit themselves, where people are invited to introduce themselves and have a conversation? Once I saw what was missing, I couldn’t unsee it.
Out of that realization came MingleSpace: a new layer of social infrastructure designed to make spontaneous connection part of daily life. That fall, I attended the Building Connected Communities Conference in Boston and connected with other community builders thinking about the same questions. It was encouraging to meet others who were thinking about similar questions, and to feel part of a growing community.
Before the concept took shape, I had begun working on a project called Prospecting for Dreams—a plan to interview 100 people in Milwaukee from different backgrounds about their ideas and visions for the future. The project was meant to spark imagination and uncover the shared dreams of a city. The deep dive inquiries we used—about creativity, community, and personal goals—later became the foundation for the conversation prompts featured at Minglespaces, bringing the spirit of meaningful discovery into spontaneous chats.
Over the past two years I have built out the MingleSpace concept with a sign portfolio, guides for venues and visitors, a library of conversation prompts and activities organized into progressive levels of connection, place onboarding, this supporting website framework, and more. I then piloted the MVP at 15 venues across Milwaukee and Madison, including breweries, cafes, a city park, and music venues. They were all excited to try the idea to bring more of their visitors together.
From Pilot to National Platform
The concept is right. Research on loneliness, stranger interaction, and the decline of third places confirms the need. But, for this to work, it needs to become part of the design expectation for our everyday places, the way we now just expect a water fountain or accessibility ramp. A design standard, a cultural decision, that if you're a place where people gather, you also create a spot to connect strangers. That requires a broad coalition of organizations, businesses, communities, and individuals. If you're part of that coalition — a venue, an organizer, or someone who wants to help build it — let's connect.
—Michael
A Note from Michael
Opportunities to connect should fit into daily life. Meeting new people should feel as natural as finding a water fountain—always there when you need it, easy to use, and part of the environment.
Places where people gather can take the lead in encouraging connection. By simply adding a clearly marked spot, they create an invitation to say hi.
Spontaneous conversations strengthen communities. When strangers can chat in everyday places, they build trust, spark new ideas, and make places feel more welcoming.
Michael Kirsch
Founder & Executive Director
In 2023, when I first started exploring how to encourage more meaningful interactions in everyday life, I kept noticing a common challenge: even in places full of people, like cafes, parks, breweries, festivals, community events, there was often no clear way to meet new people.
Around that time, I became aware of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's report on loneliness and public health and the growing national conversation about the importance of social connection. That report, along with the work of groups like the Foundation for Social Connection, convinced me this was a subject area of great importance and ripe for innovation.
Soon it hit me while visiting those same places and events — why aren’t there clearly marked areas, created by places themselves, where people are invited to introduce themselves? Once I saw the gap, I couldn’t unsee it.
Out of that realization came MingleSpace: a scalable tool to unlock the potential of missed connections. The idea is simple: give places an easy way to invite people to say hi at designated spaces, making spontaneous conversation an expected part of public places and events.
If you're a community building company or organization working on something similar to this idea, or interested to help bring this idea into being, reach out to collaborate with me.
—Michael
What we believe
Michael Kirsch is the founder of MingleSpace, a community-building social infrastructure project that helps everyday places create visible connection spots where people can meet and introduce themselves. Since 2024, he has piloted MingleSpaces in cafes, breweries, parks, and events across Milwaukee and Madison, building partnerships with local businesses to test the idea in the real world. Michael's work reimagines social infrastructure to address loneliness not as a personal failure, but as a design flaw. He focuses on how physical environments can be engineered to lower the barrier to conversation and build stronger communities.
He holds a BA in History from George Mason University and an MS in Mathematics in Finance from NYU’s Courant Institute. He is the author of The Challenge of Credit Supply: American Problems and Solutions, 1650–1950 (Vernon Press). Prior to founding MingleSpace, he specialized in strategic transformation and financial operations at KPMG.
