Social Infrastructure is Essential Infrastructure: How Public Spaces Make the Affordable, Joyful City Possible

Public officials, health care companies, and academic researchers have warned that the United States is undergoing a crisis of social disconnection, with widespread concern that Americans of all ages have too frequently chosen screen time over physical activity and face-to-face social life—all compounded by unequal access to welcoming and accessible gathering places.

While the merit of community spaces has long been recognized, less clear is how specific types of infrastructure benefit urban neighborhoods.

A new study of New York State communities answers some of these questions by spotlighting the value that public spaces—libraries, parks, and community centers—have in bringing people together while also meeting essential needs: helping to create new friendships, building civic trust, and promoting social cohesion.

The research, conducted by New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge and Gehl Studio, also calls for greater investment in public amenities in order to help ensure all communities have greater access to welcoming and accessible gathering places.

“American cities do not have to be isolating and lonely,” says lead author Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU. “Our research illustrates how social infrastructure helps people forge ties with neighbors and build a sense of belonging.

“Too many cities and towns treat social infrastructure as a luxury, when in fact it is essential for community, democracy, and civic health. It’s time for American cities and towns to reinvest in the places that give us joy and meaning. Investing in social infrastructure is the best way to begin.”

“Social infrastructure is the foundation of a more equal and democratic society,” adds co-author Julia Day, partner and director at Gehl, a global urban design practice focused on public life. “Our research shows that when social infrastructure is readily available, easily accessed, comfortably designed, active with a mix of invitations, and consistently cared for and governed, it becomes a place where people can meet everyday needs, form relationships, and build trust. These spaces are integral to upstream democracy.”

Funded by a $1.1 million federal grant, the report, Social Infrastructure is Essential Infrastructure: How Public Spaces Make the Affordable, Joyful City Possible, demonstrates how public spaces are used across three distinct New York State communities: Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, and the Hudson Valley city of Poughkeepsie. It draws on over 1,100 individuals surveyed, over 3,000 people observed, 98 in-depth interviews with community leaders, and 76 site visits—the most comprehensive study yet of how social infrastructure functions in an urban setting.

The study shows that well-maintained public spaces foster the full spectrum of social connections needed to keep communities afloat—from recognizing neighbors to forming friendships to building a sense of belonging and trust:

• • Along Flatbush Avenue, 72 percent of people surveyed at outdoor public spaces felt a sense of belonging there.
• • In Poughkeepsie, 81 percent of people reported gathering with others at outdoor spaces.
• • In the Lower East Side, 75 percent of people using outdoor spaces reported that they felt less lonely.

There are also indications that such spaces help create trust and civic engagement, with over 80 percent of library patrons attesting that they trusted other users to help them.

Across the United States, public amenities are often unappreciated and usually under-funded, the researchers note. They point to small budgets, siloed government agencies, and a lack of coordinated long-term planning, which result in a hodgepodge of public spaces that are insufficient, disconnected, and difficult to maintain.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged to rebuild New York’s community assets, arguing that a city is not only held together by buildings, but also by trust. “Social infrastructure has been neglected for too long,” Mamdani said in January. “Too often, engagement is fragmented or symbolic. Too often, people are asked for input, but never see how it shapes outcomes. Today, that changes.”

As New York City ramps up investment in social infrastructure—whether the new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in Flatbush or proposed pedestrian connections between Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park—the study reveals several opportunities for improvement.

Among the key findings are that there are significant gaps between New Yorkers’ needs and what they can currently access. While people reliably seek out public spaces to meet basic needs—to rest, create, learn, and play—these are increasingly hard to come by or lack meaningful resources for operations.

For example, prior to the 1970s fiscal crisis, recreational facilities and programming made up nearly one-third of the New York City Parks budget. Today, the figure is around 5 percent. In the communities studied, insufficient resources translate to basic barriers to use, the authors conclude. For example, the buzzing Flatbush Avenue corridor lacks sufficient seating and shade, prompting 20 percent of people observed to bring their own seating to the sidewalk.

“Moving from fragmentation to coordination requires a clear, cross-agency strategy—one that assesses neighborhood needs holistically, targets investment where it can have the greatest impact, aligns public realm improvements with capital projects, and establishes sustainable models for funding, programming, and stewardship in partnership with communities,” explains Day. “With the right governance and long-term commitment, social infrastructure can shift from a series of one-off investments to a reliable system that makes dignity, belonging, and democratic participation possible for all New Yorkers.”

The researchers say this includes developing new and creative mechanisms for funding public structures and operating expenses from multiple sectors. It also requires intentional study and planning at the neighborhood level to understand where there are gaps in access and quality to community facilities.

With new funding and planning paradigms, Klinenberg and Day write that New York and other cities should consider the following recommendations:

• • Supercharge libraries into full-service community hubs
• • Expand and revamp indoor and outdoor recreation and play spaces for all ages
• • Make gathering spaces comfortable and resilient for extreme weather
• • Transform streets into safe, social neighborhood connectors that make sites accessible to all
• • Hire community partners to run and activate public spaces as a public service

“Without continued investment, even well-designed places risk decline,” says Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. “With them, social infrastructure can become one of the most powerful tools cities and communities have to strengthen civic life.”

“Investing in the social infrastructure that supports public life is one of the most effective ways to strengthen communities from within,” says Day. “To invest in these places is to commit to the social fabric that underpins more equal societies. These are the places where democracy is not an abstract concept, but something lived through everyday encounters, shared experiences, and collective presence in public life. They are places where trust is built, where differences are negotiated, and where a sense of common ground can emerge.”

IPK Research Team

Eric Klinenberg
Project Lead
Eric Klinenberg is the Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. His most recent book is 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed, and his other books include Heat Wave, Fighting for Air, Going Solo, and Palaces for the People.

Michael Koncewicz
Associate Director
Michael Koncewicz is the Associate Director at the Institute for Public Knowledge, where he develops, implements, and manages programmatic and administrative operations for IPK in collaboration with the Director. Koncewicz’s scholarship focuses on the culture and politics of the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. His first book, They Said ‘No’ to Nixon: Republicans Who Stood Up to the President’s Abuses of Power was published by the University of California Press in 2018. He is currently working on a biography of longtime progressive activist Tom Hayden. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Jacobin, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and The Washington Post.

Nan Feng
Postdoctoral Researcher, Cities, Communities, and Social Infrastructure
Nan Feng is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. She received her PhD in Sociology from Cornell University in 2024. She studies how inequality shapes and is shaped by social networks. She pursues this inquiry through three interrelated lines of research. The first line of research addresses inequality in social capital and social integration within large social collectivities. The second line of research investigates how social networks reinforce socio-economic disadvantage and the resulting impact on health. The third line of research explores the role of geographic proximity in high-stakes business relationships within America’s venture capital market.

Matt Wolfe
Postdoctoral Researcher, Cities, Communities, and Social Infrastructure
Matthew Wolfe is a National Fellow at New America, where he is currently writing a narrative nonfiction book, for Viking Press, on the Earth Liberation Front and radical environmentalism in the context of the current climate crisis. In 2023, he received a PhD in sociology from New York University, where he researched the social patterning of and societal reaction to missing persons. His academic research has appeared in Theory and Society, BMJ Global Health, and Social Research. His journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and The New Republic.