The Polish company Gadulawka has installed shops in Krakow for talking with strangers 
Special shops for talking with strangers have appeared in Krakow, Poland. They were installed by the Gadulawka company. Thus, the company found an unusual way to overcome loneliness, especially aggravated during lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Designboom.
To design the exterior of the bench, Gadulawka attracted local architects – the design was supposed to be simple, bright and attractive to passers-by. Later on the streets of the city appeared shops with metal rods and green signs with the inscription “Sit here, if you don't mind someone coming to say hello” in three languages - Polish, English and Hebrew. The campaign organizers believe that talking with random people will help Krakow residents to maintain mental health.
However, Gadulawka is not the initiator of the initiative – the first idea to create communication benches came from Allison Owen Jones from Cardiff, Wales. While walking in the park, the British woman noticed a sad man, whom she did not dare to approach for fear of violating personal boundaries. To reduce such situations, Jones placed signs on several benches to facilitate the interaction of visitors.
In Moscow, on the contrary, they decided to rely on maintaining social distance and installed street stools for singles. Single benches appeared after renovation on the Kosmodamianskaya embankment in the Zamoskvorechye region of the Central Administrative District. Residents of the capital criticized this architectural solution.