Healthcare Design - November 2022 - 25

KEYNOTES
BUILDING
BETTER
AUTHOR ERIC KLINENBERG, Helen Gould
Shepard Professor of Social Science, and director
of the Institute for Public Knowledge
at New York University, kicked off the 2023
HCD Conference with an opening keynote
discussion on the importance of social infrastructure
and its role in achieving community
health and well-being.
Klinenberg defines social infrastructure as the
" physical places and organizations that shape
the way people interact. " One shining example,
he said, is the library-an asset in most communities
that's designed to feel welcoming to all,
where staff ask how they can help you, and programs
and activities support connections and
interactions among people.
Until the 1970s, Sundays were the busiest
days at libraries, providing a much needed place
for families to find activities or hang out. However,
budget cuts, programming changes, and
market investments in other types of spaces
have impacted libraries' prominence and program
offerings for communities in recent years.
Yet, looking at the bigger picture, Klinenberg
said that when we invest, support, maintain,
and grow social infrastructure, " We get all
kinds of returns to health, morale, well-being ...
When we don't invest, we shut down. "
To illustrate this point, he noted one of the first
social science experiments he conducted was
after a heat wave killed more than 700 people
over five days in Chicago in 1995. " Heat deaths
are social deaths, " he said. To better understand
what happened, he drew maps of neighborhoods
hit the hardest, predominantly segregated and
low-income areas. However, when he zoomed
in further, he noticed that areas within the same
neighborhood were impacted differently.
Specifically, areas with more abandoned buildings,
empty lots, and few storefronts. Thus,
places with fewer places or opportunities to socialize
with neighbors were hit harder because
residents hadn't connected and didn't know to
look out for someone who might be alone or elderly.
Alternately, residents in areas with more
shops, places of worship, and animated streets
fared better during the heat wave. " Community
doesn't just happen, " he said. " If you don't have good places for people to
hang out, it's not going to happen. "
Creating this infrastructure doesn't always mean looking for the " next
big thing, " he said. Instead, he encouraged audience members to look at
existing structures for opportunities to create healthy places where people
can be supported every day. Going back to the example of the library, he
showed an image of seniors gathering in the basement of a local branch to
enjoy a weekly virtual bowling league. " They're doing this thing together, "
he said, which results in " collective effervescence, " or a sense of joy and
unity from a shared experience.
Going forward, Klinenberg encouraged the attendees to strive to design
great places with an idea that you're making social infrastructure. " If you [do
that], you can do all sorts of amazing things. " -Anne DiNardo, executive editor
INDUSTRY VOICES
THE CENTER FOR Health Design presented
its annual Changemaker Award to
A. Ray Pentecost III (middle), director
of the Center for Health Systems &
Design at Texas A&M University (College
Station, Texas), Ronald L. Skaggs
and Joseph G. Sprague Chair of Health
Facilities Design, and professor of
practice in the College of Architecture and College of Medicine. During the presentation,
William J. Hercules (right), CEO at WJH Health (Orlando, Fla.), and D. Kirk Hamilton (left),
PhD, professor emeritus, Texas A&M University, led a Q+A with Pentecost. They discussed his
career, commitment to research, and hopes for the future. " I want to change the way architects
are educated to include a greater emphasis on research, " he said. For more on their discussion,
go to HCDmagazine.com/changemaker-pentecost.
NOVEMBER 2022
25

http://www.HCDmagazine.com/changemaker-pentecost

Healthcare Design - November 2022

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