Trying to engineer hot weather out of existence rather than adjust our culture of consumption for the age of climate change is one of our biggest environmental blind spots. If you can’t stand the heat, you should know that blasting the AC will ultimately make us all even hotter. Let’s put our air conditioners on ice before it’s too late.

Palaces for the People—the title is taken from the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie’s description of the hundreds of libraries he funded—is essentially a calm, lucid exposition of a centuries-old idea, which is really a furious call to action.” — New Statesman Eric Klinenberg offers a new perspective on what people and places have to do with each other…. In case after case, we learn how socially-minded design matters…. Anyone interested in cities will find this book an engaging survey that trains you to view any shared physical system as, among other things, a kind of social network.”— The New York Times Book ReviewPublic institutions, such as libraries, schools, playgrounds, parks, athletic fields, and swimming pools are all vital parts of social infrastructure. So are churches and synagogues, flea markets, and corner diners. Places where people can gather and linger encourage the formation of social bonds and promote interaction across group lines, and if our democracy is going to thrive, we need more of them. Investing in social infrastructure is just as urgent as investing in conventional hard infrastructure like bridges, levees, and airports. Often, we can strengthen both simultaneously, establishing vital social arteries that are also “palaces for the people,” to borrow the phrase Andrew Carnegie used to describe the 2,500 grand libraries that he built around the world. Even more odd are the couple of times he uses the plot from *novels* to make a point. It’s just bizarre – how am I supposed to be convinced by that? Robust social infrastructure doesn’t just protect our democracy; it contributes to economic growth.” And yet there is the American public library standing in direct contradiction of that ideology. When Andrew Carnegie wanted to bring self-education to the masses, how did he do it? He did not just scatter his money. He entered into a quid pro quo arrangement with local governments: if I build it, you must make sure they come. Years later, when Bill Gates wanted to do something similar with the potential of the Internet, he did a similar thing with local governments and their libraries: if I enable connectivity, you must maintain it.

I took a star off because I found the text somewhat rambling and roundabout. I thought it would be much more useful to divide chapters by type of institution, so those reading for institutional purposes could easily find what they're looking for. I did see an indication that the finished copy will have an index, so that should help. Eric Klinenberg's latest book is an excellent examination of how our political perspectives, resilience to crises, and overall quality of life are affected by social infrastructure--the physical spaces and material elements that help us connect with each other. It was a bit painful to read during a time in which our biological need for distancing has necessarily been prioritized over our social need to gather, but in this way it is also particularly timely. Over the past fifty years, American society has seen the gradual abandonment of common spaces like parks, public pools, and community centers and with it a corresponding rise in social fragmentation and instability. Klinenberg argues that a wide range of issues, including the opioid epidemic, generational inner-city poverty, institutionalized racial inequality, and environmental injustice due to climate change can all be linked to the degradation of social infrastructure. Palaces for the People: can social infrastructure fight inequality and the decline in civic life? Laurie Taylor talks to the American sociologist, Eric Klinenberg. They’re joined by Kate Pahl, Professor of Arts and Literacy at Manchester Metropolitan University and Katie Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments at the University of the West of England. There are team photos, high fives, and hugs all around. Christine tells the players that there will be trophies for the top teams and a giant trophy for the library that wins everything. Miba, feeling bold and full of swagger, suggests that they just engrave New Lots on it now and bring the trophy over. Her teammates are in hysterics, their smiles as deep as a lifetime.Publicly traded corporations, including Facebook, are legally required to maximize shareholder value, and while some CEOs define value expansively, most focus on the bottom line.” These are private social infrastructures, there for the pleasure and convenience of first-tier staff members whose color-coded badges grant them access, but, crucially, not for the low-level temps and contractors who cook and clean in the same organization, and not for neighboring residents or visitors. These expensive, carefully designed social infrastructures work so well for high-level tech employees that they have little reason to patronize small local businesses—coffee shops, gyms, restaurants, and the like—that might otherwise benefit far more from the presence of a large employer.” Harvard Kennedy School Social Capital Toolkit,” (tiny.cc/socialcapitaltoolkit): A resource providing information about social capital and how it encourages development in communities. An American Summer* is a powerful indictment of a city and a nation that have failed to protect their most vulnerable residents, or to register the depth of their pain. It is also a case study in the constraints of a purely narrative approach to the problems of inequality and social suffering. The aim of this sweeping work is to popularize the notion of ‘social infrastructure'—the ‘physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact'. . . . Here, drawing on research in urban planning, behavioral economics, and environmental psychology, as well as on his own fieldwork from around the world, [Eric Klinenberg] posits that a community’s resilience correlates strongly with the robustness of its social infrastructure. The numerous case studies add up to a plea for more investment in the spaces and institutions (parks, libraries, childcare centers) that foster mutual support in civic life.” — The New Yorker

An engaging, readable argument for why we should build more “social infrastructure” like libraries, community gardens, parks, sports facilities, etc – but with a curiously meandering structure that flits between ideas and subjects.

Retailers:

And so he spends time in public libraries, seeing how people of differing ages, status and ethnicities cohabit their spaces, how conflicts are negotiated and collaborations start, and how these institutions give refuge to people who feel excluded or diminished elsewhere. He describes an initiative in Brooklyn libraries where older people can play in virtual bowling leagues as a way of getting them out of their homes and meeting people. If America appears fractured at the national level, the author suggests, it can be mended at the local one. This is an engrossing, timely, hopeful read, nothing less than a new lens through which to view the world and its current conflicts.” — Booklist (starred)

of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg For decades, we’ve neglected the shared spaces that shape our interactions. The consequences of that neglect may be less visible than crumbling bridges and ports, but they’re no less dire. Sociologist Klinenberg (director, Inst. for Public Knowledge, New York Univ.; Going Solo; Heat Wave) prescribes a stronger social infrastructure (defined as places and organizations that encourage people to come together) as an antidote to the current troubling divisions within our country. His examples include public libraries (the title is a nod to Andrew Carnegie), churches, parks, public pools, and sports teams. Some commercial establishments, such as coffee shops, barbershops, and bookstores, also encourage social mingling. Using examples from around the world, the author highlights how hard infrastructure, such as seawalls or bridges, can be designed to include community spaces with walking/biking trails or parks. He also looks at how some cities have used social infrastructure to create solutions to problems such as drug addiction, urban food deserts, or geriatric isolation. Considering impacts of climate change, he notes that community organizations that provide immediate, on-the-ground response to weather crises require a healthy social infrastructure. He dismisses tech apologists who believe the Internet can substitute for face-to-face interaction. VERDICT The author's paean to public libraries will strongly appeal to those who support them as well as interested sociologists and urbanists.—Caren Nichter, Univ. of Tennessee at Martin Library Journal Libraries are not the kinds of institutions that most social scientists, policymakers, and community leaders usually bring up when they discuss social capital and how to build it. But they offer something for everyone, regardless of whether they’re a citizen, a permanent resident, or even a convicted felon – and all of it for free. He describes an initiative in Brooklyn where older people can play in virtual bowling leagues as a way of meeting people

I didn't think that I could dislike a book as much as I dislike THIS book, but yes, I really disliked this book. Wonderful ideas and some really interesting points but I do not trust ANY book which talks about race and sociology without talking about white privilege and white supremacy. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems this man wrote an entire book about community while NOT ONCE naming white supremacy. Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life Americans are in a crisis of loneliness. Factors like the pandemic and our deep political divides have kept us isolated, while social media and media echo chambers sort many of us into silos. There isn’t a single reason why this loneliness crisis exists, but there is a way to recover: Social infrastructure. People forge bonds in places that have healthy social infrastructures—not because they set out to build community, but because when people engage in sustained, recurrent interaction, particularly while doing things they enjoy, relationships inevitably grow.”