“Building Community With $1 Coffees, a Salsa Club and Patience” | The New York Times

On July 21st, 2026, the Institute for Public Knowledge’s report Social Infrastructure is Essential Infrastructure: How Public Spaces Make the Affordable, Joyful City Possible and Director Eric Klinenberg were featured in a piece by The New York Times titled “Building Community With $1 Coffees, a Salsa Club and Patience.” Read the excerpt below, then click for the full article.

he 14th Street Y’s clubs have become part of the city’s “social infrastructure,” like libraries, parks and playgrounds that can foster connections and strengthen communities, said Eric Klinenberg, a New York University sociology professor and author of “Palaces for the People.”

“When we do things we enjoy together, regularly, with the same set of people, we start to develop friendships and a feeling of belonging and a sense of trust,” he said.

But in a recent report, Mr. Klinenberg found that such social infrastructure around the country is often insufficient, underfunded and undervalued. “Our social infrastructure is falling apart,” he said, because “a lot of communities don’t have the resources it takes to do these kinds of things.”

Read the full article here.

Photo: James Estrin/The New York Times