’No man is an island’

In the deserted main building of the University of Jena. Image: Anne Günther (University of Jena) - In these times of the coronavirus crisis, 'Social Distancing' is called for: all people should refrain from shaking hands, maintain a safe distance of at least two metres from each other and stay at home if possible. But what consequences does this have for our life as a community? This is explained by Assistant Professor Simon Runkel who, as a social geographer at the Institute of Geography of the University of Jena, studies questions of social coexistence from a spatial perspective. Read on to find out what society is particularly reliant on in times of crisis and why "Social Distancing" can be easily misunderstood. What is meant by the term 'Social Distancing' The term 'Social Distancing' describes a regulation of interpersonal contact. A greater distance is intended to make infections from person to person more difficult, thus reducing the intensity of the spread of the coronavirus. Social coexistence is essentially dependant on proximity.