Skip to main content

Palaces for the People

Palaces for the People 

Tuesday, November 27, 5:30pm 
The Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room  
Book launch event with Eric Kleinenberg, Professor of Sociology, New York University 

Responses by:  
Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University 
Shamus Khan, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University 
Kate Orff, Associate Professor & Director, Urban Design Program, Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation 

We are living in a time of deep divisions. Americans are sorting themselves along racial, religious, and cultural lines, leading to a level of polarization that the country hasn’t seen since the Civil War. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together, to find common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done?   

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, bookstores, churches, synagogues, and parks where crucial, sometimes life-saving connections, are formed. These are places where people gather and linger, making friends across group lines and strengthening the entire community. Klinenberg calls this the “social infrastructure”: When it is strong, neighborhoods flourish; when it is neglected, as it has been in recent years, families and individuals must fend for themselves. 

Organized by Sharon Marcus, Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature. Sponsored by: The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities, Public Books, Columbia University Libraries, Department of English and Comparative Language, Department of Sociology, The Urban Design Program, Center for Spatial Research.