By Alexis Terry
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
People are less likely to survive a crisis in their community when their neighborhood lacks social infrastructure such as parks and libraries, a sociology professor from New York University said during a lecture at Johns Hopkins University Tuesday.
Eric Klinenberg, a scholar of urban studies, culture and media, said communities tend to pull together more when they have social centers where they can gather and get to know their neighbors.
When developing neighborhoods, he said, it is important to incorporate parks, libraries, churches and vibrant commercial centers.
“If we have this idea of social infrastructure we could make a much better world,” said Klinenberg, whose lecture was inspired by his new book, “Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.”
As an example, Klinenberg pointed to the 1995 Chicago heatwave that killed nearly 700 people.
During that heatwave, he said, one city neighborhood experienced a death rate 10 times higher than another neighborhood that had virtually the same demographic makeup. The neighborhood with the higher number of deaths was “depleted,” he said, adding that it was full of abandoned homes and empty lots.
The other neighborhood had parks, churches and commercial life. These people were much more likely to talk to their neighbors, interact in their neighborhoods and were much more comfortable seeking out help from others, he said.
“If you live in a neighborhood like this, what happens?” Klinenberg said. “It means you’re less likely to spend a lot of time outdoors, which means you guys over here tend to not know each other as well and if there is a crisis you don’t know whose door to knock on.”
Moreoever, Klinenberg said people who live in strong social neighborhoods have a life expectancy that is five times longer than those who live in so-called depleted communities.
Klinenberg said his research is particularly important today given the country’s current state of extreme political polarization in which many people do not want to talk to their neighbors.
Klinenberg said his research made him realize the importance of libraries in local communities. He said Andrew Carnegie called libraries “the palaces of the people,” which inspired the name of his book.
He said many people no longer recognize the importance of libraries, even if they acknowledge that communities need such social centers.
This realization came to him while he was working on the Obama administration’s Rebuild by Design project, which focused on learning how to build infrastructure for the 21st century.
During that dialogue, he said one group suggested that communities build what they called “resilience centers,” or places equipped with wi-fi and various programs that welcome everyone.
After hearing this proposal, Klinenberg said he couldn’t help but to think of a library. At this moment, he said he realized how out of touch society was with a key space in social infrastructure.
“There are a lot of people that believe the library is this kind of outdated institution,” Klinenberg said. “The idea is so out of sync with the spirit of our moment.”
Manhattan’s Lower East Side and many other neighborhoods in cities are undergoing phases of gentrification, he said. Many people are feeling less and less like they belong in these areas.
Klinenberg said that it is true commercial entities can be great for places, but some are not always inclusive.
“But not the library,” Klinenberg said.
Klinenberg said he recognizes that libraries are not going to completely fix the social infrastructure, but it has all the qualities and characteristics of what perfect social infrastructure looks like.