Eric Klinenberg

Why look back at times of crisis? Because “crises allow us to see ourselves more clearly,” says sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg. Heat waves, pandemics, and other overlapping crises have shaped us in ways we don’t even fully recognize yet—and we need to grapple with our past in order to forge a better path forward.

In this hopeful, thought-provoking talk, Eric draws on his book 2020 to tell stories of ordinary people coming together in community, from an elementary school principal to a subway custodian. Through these stories, he encourages us to develop our own networks of solidarity, building stronger communities and a healthy democracy. He offers lessons on leadership: what do we do in a crisis, and how can we prepare for the next one? Ultimately, he shows us how we can use this insight to move forward together.

In this keynote based on Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg guides audiences through his deeply researched conception of social infrastructure, and how we can build it together. The future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces, he explains. Our libraries, childcare centers, bookstores, places of worship, and parks are where crucial, sometimes life-saving connections, are formed. These places where people gather and linger, making friends across group lines, strengthen the entire community. When strong, neighborhoods flourish; when neglected, as it has been in recent years, families and individuals must fend for themselves.

This talk offers a timely and empathetic blueprint for change, showing how how social infrastructure is helping us solve some of our most pressing challenges: isolation, crime, education, addiction, political polarization, and even climate change.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. We’ve all heard that before. But where does a great culture start? It starts when your office feels like a community of friends. As office workers, we spend most of our waking hours in an environment that boasts as many computers as people—and yet we rarely think about how this affects our productivity, our happiness, or our ability to work together.

In this customized talk, sociologist Eric Klinenberg brings social infrastructure to a corporate scale, showing your audience the ways that physical space can be optimized to your needs. Creative workspace? Clear and open dialogue? What about a day care center? Eric will tell you about how Google built soccer fields, bike paths, and gardens around their headquarters—and while you may not be Google, there is something to be learned from any successful space. This talk will leave you with the knowledge and motivation to introduce connection-building changes to your workplace, no matter the size.

Why wasn’t the Eastern Seaboard better prepared for Hurricane Sandy? Why did seven hundred and thirty-nine people die in Chicago’s 1995 heat wave? Instances of natural disasters are on the rise. How can we be prepared?

In this talk, Eric Klinenberg draws on his New Yorker article “Adaptation” and his book on the great Chicago heat wave to explore the concept of “climate-proofing” our cities. He provides a dramatic, tragic story of what can happen when cities and nations fail to learn from previous disasters, and an argument for how they can use recent history and cutting-edge science to become more resilient and better prepared. We can use our anxieties around climate change to drive action and build stronger, more agile cities that benefit from intelligent and climate-proof design—and Eric can show us how.