I am an Australian visiting Italy at the moment and I find the streets here are just... more vibrant and alive than the equivalent places at home. It is no data point, and shouldn't be seen as one. There are too many differences between Italian and Australian society to lay the blame anywhere in particular. But something is wrong in Australian culture that isn't as obvious in Italy.

Funny, I too am in Italy right now and I agree. I love that people walk so much here.

That's easy enough to check, compare rates in denser countries/states to more spread out ones or cities vs. suburbs. I have a hunch that the correlation won't be there but it should be interesting either way.

Edit: doing a quick look around, this article using the American Time Use Survey shows a small increase in socialization for people who live in cities, but only a couple of minutes a day. https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/10/american-time-use-surve...

It seems so obvious to me too. Plain and simple physical distance correlating to inter-personal distance.