Social infrastructure and the public life of cities: Studying urban sociality and public spaces

Latham, Alan; Layton, Jack

doi:10.1111/gec3.12444

Cited by 239 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 107 publications

(118 reference statements)

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“…There is no consensus on the definition of social infrastructure, but sociologists and epidemiologists typically consider that it comprises the public institutions, community organizations, civic associations, and volunteer or religious groups that offer opportunities for interpersonal interaction and participation in public life in the neighborhood (Latham and Layton 2019). Some scholars connect the term social infrastructure with ethnographic work on neighborhood life and focus on public places such as libraries, parks, playgrounds, and shops that invite people into the public life (Oldenberg 2007;Klinenberg 2018).…”

Section: Neighborhood Social Infrastructure Social Cohesion and Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The physical infrastructure refers to material entities such as buildings, facilities, and technology. The social infrastructure includes community organizations, civic associations, and volunteer groups nurturing interpersonal interaction and social engagement in the neighborhood context (Klinenberg 2018;Latham and Layton 2019;O'Sullivan et al 2013;. However, physical infrastructure may collapse or be suspended when extreme events occur.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can neighborhoods protect residents from mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Wuhan

Jia

Zeng

2020

Chinese Sociological Review

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Neighborhoods have begun to play an increasingly prominent role in shaping mental health during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic because residents are spending more time at home and in their immediate neighborhoods. Using data collected from 3,031 urban residents during the COVID-19 lockdown of Wuhan, China's earliest epicenter, this study investigates the relationship between neighborhoods' social infrastructure and residents' mental distress. Results of structural equation modeling estimation reveal that services provided by urban residents' committees (cheng shi ju wei hui) and volunteer groups significantly decrease the adverse impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on residents' mental health in a Chinese context, and social cohesion is one of the mechanisms underpinning this influence. Residents' committees and volunteer groups are found to increase their support when neighborhoods are facing an escalated level of COVID-19 risk. The residents who receive more support from their neighborhood organizations perceive a higher level of social cohesion and experience less mental distress. The findings suggest that mobilizing neighborhoods' organizational resources and fostering social cohesion are crucial strategies to minimizing residents' mental distress during COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Neighborhood Social Infrastructure Social Cohesion and Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can neighborhoods protect residents from mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Wuhan

Jia

Zeng

2020

Chinese Sociological Review

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“…By the social, we mean the social relations and forms of social interaction that exist in a particular place at a particular time between social actors as well as how these affect and are affected by each other. Latham and Layton (2019) use the notion of social infrastructure to describe "networks of spaces, facilities, institutions and groups that create affordances for social connection" (p. 3). Different spaces and facilities have different functions for people, but in addition to this, they represent spaces where people socialize and establish connections with others.…”

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Coexistence: Resident Experiences of the Open Drug Scene and Drug Consumption Rooms in Inner Vesterbro, Copenhagen

Bancroft

Houborg

2020

Contemporary Drug Problems

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The inner-city area of Inner Vesterbro in Copenhagen, Denmark, houses the largest open drug scene in Scandinavia. Since the 1980s, the area has been a gathering point for people who use, buy, and sell drugs. During the last two decades, urban redevelopments have resulted in marked demographic changes amid concerns about processes of gentrification. The drug scene, however, remains, and the last 7 years have seen the implementation of a new police strategy of “nonenforcement” of minor drug possession offences alongside the opening of two drug consumption rooms (DCRs) in the area. This article presents findings from a study of resident attitudes toward local DCRs and daily experiences of the open drug scene. Specifically, we draw on material generated via an online questionnaire distributed among residents in the area ( N = 566) and qualitative interviewing of 33 residents. The article also proposes a change in perspective toward drug scene encounters, one that is not hinged exclusively on a narrow understanding of nuisances understood as negative affective states. This new approach is employed in an analysis of resident experiences of drug scene encounters. The analysis shows that rather than experiencing drug users and the drug scene exclusively as a nuisance or threat to community order, most residents are supportive of DCRs and generally accept the presence of a drug scene in the area. The article concludes with a brief discussion of results and their relation to current debates on urban coexistence, progressive harm reduction initiatives, and public space management.

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“…A participatory water culture is especially urgent in the current era of diminishing social infrastructure under austerity, which has further exposed the lack of civic capacity at the local and neighbourhood level (Wills, 2016). Parks are an integral part of the social infrastructure which give cities their public character, affording and encouraging encounters and interaction amongst otherwise disassociated citizens (Latham and Layton, 2019). Yet, there has been growing concern about the widening disconnection between communities and their physical surroundings, exacerbated by deep cuts in public funding for parks, the value of which have become starkly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Wilding the City Or Experiments In Complex Coexistencementioning

confidence: 99%

Broaching the brook: Daylighting, community and the ‘stickiness’ of water

Usher

Huck

Clay

et al. 2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

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Over the last century, under the modern hydraulic model, waterways across the world have been heavily canalized and culverted, driven into underground pipes, drains and sewers. This hydraulic approach has hardwired an isolated water network into the urban fabric, fragmenting erstwhile patterns and dynamics of life, both human and nonhuman. Ecologically, it has been hugely damaging, reducing water quality and biotic diversity, but also socially, disconnecting citizens from the waterways that service and characterize the city. Consequently, since the 1990s, waterway restoration has become widespread as a design solution to degraded rivers and streams, reinstating compromised hydrological, geomorphological and ecological processes. Deculverting or ‘daylighting’, the focus of this paper, is a radical form of restoration, opening up subterranean, culverted waterways often forgotten by communities above ground. Yet, as this paper emphasizes, waterway restoration has tended to privilege ecological over social objectives, while public engagement in project conceptualization has been limited, conducted ‘downstream’ subsequent to planning and design stages. Restoration schemes have therefore tended to reflect the concerns of professionals rather than communities, overlooking their potential for social renewal and change. Drawing on workshop data collected through participatory mapping exercises, this paper explores the case for daylighting a culverted brook in Urmston, Greater Manchester, focusing in particular on the preferences, concerns and knowledge of local residents. The paper compares professional and community perspectives on the preferred scheme design and potential benefits of daylighting, drawing out differences and tensions between them, temporarily ‘unblackboxing’ the brook. It is ventured that daylighting can unleash the social ‘stickiness’ of water, its proclivity to draw and bind together, to revitalize the park, enhancing connection to wildness, attachment to place and sense of community. This is particularly crucial in the face of decreased local authority funding and related crises in park management.

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Social infrastructure and the public life of cities: Studying urban sociality and public spaces

Cited by 239 publications

References 107 publications

Can neighborhoods protect residents from mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Wuhan

Can neighborhoods protect residents from mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Wuhan

Managing Coexistence: Resident Experiences of the Open Drug Scene and Drug Consumption Rooms in Inner Vesterbro, Copenhagen

Broaching the brook: Daylighting, community and the ‘stickiness’ of water

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