Social Infrastructure in New York

New York, New York

By Olivia Flynn
public life, public space, social space, community,

This map shows examples of ‘social infrastructure’ (civic and social assets that connect our communities) in New York. This map shows which areas where these assets aggregate and what areas that are lacking such assets. Note: This map displays a few types of social infrastructure assets and is not comprehensive.

Public life, is the collective that people create when they live their lives outside of their homes, lives, and cars.

Social infrastructure are the places that cultivate public life in cities. Social infrastructure are the civic institutions, public spaces, and gathering spots where people see, hear and know their neighbors and people with different backgrounds, mindsets, and lifestyles than themselves. These places build social capital within communities, creating more connected, resilient, and tolerant neighborhoods in our cities.

This map shows some examples of social infrastructure and where they can be found in communities around New York. This map shows aggregates of resources possibly indicating communities with strong social connections and disparities, highlighting neighborhoods of new york that would benefit from investment in this typology of place. The map filters between boroughs to show comparisons across New York City.

I landed on a list of social infrastructure assets and collected a few different data sources from the city of New York that provided the information needed.

From there, I mapped all of the data and focused making it possible for the site to filter the data by borough and allow the site to display information about each asset when selected

This map shows examples of social infrastructure and is not comprehensive. Going forward, I will continue adding assets to the map and enable filtering on a neighborhood scale.

See: Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg for more on Social Infrastructure