Palaces for the People: How To Build a More Equal and United Society

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Fine reading for community activists seeking to expand the social infrastructure of their own home places.” The United States invests far more in disaster recovery than in preparing for disasters by designing and creating more resilient buildings and infrastructure. As a consequence, we are trapped in a cycle of repeatedly rebuilding shoddy systems in predictably dangerous places.

Wow. A comprehensive, entertaining, and compelling argument for how rebuilding social infrastructure can help heal divisions in our society and move us forward. I can’t wait for people in my ideological bubble to ignore it!” Eric Klinenberg believes that social life can be designed well, just as good buildings are.His book is full of hope, which is all the more striking because Klinenberg is a realist.He is a major social thinker, and this is a beautifully written, major book.” —Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics This wonderful book shows us how democracies thrive' Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies DieI went off Facebook for a variety of reasons, but what cemented my decision to severely limit my use of that particular social media platform was a post about my love of libraries and, specifically, my local library, which, at the time, was the main topic of discussion in town as city council was deciding where and when to build a new state-of-the-art library.

And yet -- with their rugged, self-help-through-self-education ethos that is as American as Benjamin Franklin -- public libraries are an increasingly anomalous feature in a political landscape that--seemingly, and increasingly--wants to raze the very idea on which they rest: that the government can and should invest public money in cultural infrastructure for the improvement of citizens' lives. Or, as Klinenberg muses parenthetically, "(If, today, the library didn't already exist, it's hard to imagine our society's leaders inventing it.)" Klinenberg, a professor of sociology at New York University, examines how our social structures--from the library to schools to community gardens--can help mitigate problems and challenges of our divided civic life. He posits that neighborhoods, regardless of economic or over-all social standing, which have strong social infrastructure do better at taking care of one another when crises strike and also do better at resisting crime and other negative social impacts.Klinenberg’s research discovered that it was these neighborhoods’ healthy social infrastructures that contributed to their survival. In these places, things like libraries and community centers provided safety nets and social hubs where neighbors could coordinate ways to help their neighbors. In many poor neighborhoods where such social infrastructure didn’t exist, many people---the elderly especially---died alone in their homes because neighbors did not think to look in on them. In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how “social infrastructure” is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges. Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides.

A great example of research made accessible to non-experts… Klinenberg draws on loads of published scholarship as well as his own, weaving it together into a powerful argument…. What Klinenberg advocates is not luxury along the lines of grand train stations of the past but decency and thoughtfulness in designing the spaces we live in.” — Inside Higher Ed Reading Palaces for the Peopleis an amazing experience. As an architect, I know very well the importance of building civic places: concert halls, libraries, museums, universities, public parks, all places open and accessible, where people can get together and share experiences.To create good places for people is essential, and this is what I share with Klinenberg: We both believe that beauty, this kind of beauty, can save the world.” —Renzo Piano My point: I love libraries. I have always loved libraries, and I always will. I am most passionate when I am advocating for the importance of libraries. I think libraries are important and integral to the health and well-being of any community.

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The systems we build in coming years will tell future generations who we are and how we see the world today. If we fail to bridge our gaping social divisions, they may even determine whether that “we” continues to exist. Today, nations around the world are poised to spend trillions of dollars on vital infrastructure projects that we need to get through the twenty- first century and beyond. Before we lift the next shovel, we should know what we want to improve, what we need to protect, and, more important, what kind of society we want to create for our post-COVID 19 world. Libraries: Klinenberg visits one of New York City’s poorest districts—which is highly segregated and has high levels of homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault—to see the life-giving programs being implemented at a Brooklyn Public Library branch, including a virtual bowling league, that are successfully building and strengthening ties among the elderly, a group particularly at risk for isolation. I don’t believe we have a loneliness epidemic. But millions of people are suffering from social disconnection. Whether or not they have a minister for loneliness, they deserve more attention and help than we’re offering today.