One Park Is Not Enough: New York’s Social Infrastructure Works as a Network

Event date: 6 October 2026. Information verified through 20 October 2026.

Bring your own chair. On Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, one in five people observed spending time on the street had done exactly that, because the busy corridor offers few places to sit (Reimagining the Civic Commons). The milk crates and folding chairs are not a design feature. They are evidence — people want to linger where they live, and the street is not built for it.

That detail comes from a study of social infrastructure in three New York State communities by New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge and Gehl Studio, covering Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Brooklyn’s Flatbush and the Hudson Valley city of Poughkeepsie (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge). Social infrastructure means the physical places that shape our capacity to interact — parks, libraries, community centres, sidewalks (Reimagining the Civic Commons).

How the researchers looked

The team surveyed more than 1,100 visitors at 21 public indoor and outdoor spaces, observed 3,000 people, and drew on community photo walks, focus groups and nearly 100 interviews (Reimagining the Civic Commons). NYU describes the work, funded by a $1.1 million federal grant, as drawing on 98 in-depth interviews and 76 site visits (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge).

Lead author Eric Klinenberg put the claim plainly: “American cities do not have to be isolating and lonely,” adding that the research shows how social infrastructure helps people forge ties with neighbours and build a sense of belonging (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge).

Recognition first, friendship later

Friendship is not the only measure that matters here. Across the sites, more than 70% of survey respondents reported recognising someone else in the space, more than 40% had engaged in an activity with others, more than 35% had made friends, and more than 60% reported feeling less lonely or isolated (Reimagining the Civic Commons). More than 50% reported interacting across race, more than 35% across class, and more than 70% reported feeling trust in others there (Reimagining the Civic Commons).

At libraries, the trust figure ran higher still in NYU’s summary: over 80% of library patrons said they trusted other users to help them (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge). On Flatbush’s outdoor spaces, 72% of people surveyed felt a sense of belonging there; in Poughkeepsie, 81% reported gathering with others outdoors; on the Lower East Side, 75% of outdoor-space users said they felt less lonely (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge).

Three neighbourhoods, three different gaps

The Lower East Side scored high across the spectrum. A park, a library, a community centre and an open street sit within the same five-minute walking radius, linked by pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and crossings (Reimagining the Civic Commons).

Flatbush showed a shallower pattern. People recognised each other at very high rates — 84% — but reported lower rates of engaging in activities, at 41%, and gathering with others, at 49% (Reimagining the Civic Commons). The corridor has street life. It lacks consistent seating and shade, even at busy bus stops.

Poughkeepsie flipped the problem. Its gathering spaces drew groups well — 81% reported gathering with friends, family and acquaintances — yet only about a third made new friends at those sites, 56% recognised others, 23% reported bridging across class, and 56% reported trusting others (Reimagining the Civic Commons). The researchers point to basic mobility barriers, such as a long walk across two major arterials between a high school and a community centre, pushing people towards car-based, planned visits instead of casual encounter (Reimagining the Civic Commons).

The back office is part of the finding

Governance, unglamorous as it sounds, decides whether the network holds. Municipal departments are often divided by space type — streets, parks, libraries — with few chances to plan together, while stewardship has spread across nonprofits, conservancies, business improvement districts and friends-of groups (Reimagining the Civic Commons). In Poughkeepsie, about 40 separate grants were required to support a single after-school programme at the Family Partnership Center (Reimagining the Civic Commons).

A separate commentary in Nonprofit Quarterly, published 19 October 2026, argues that nonprofits should act earlier — as custodians and connectors, not only as campaigners after a space is threatened (Nonprofit Quarterly). That piece also notes a 2025 survey in which 71% of public libraries cited limited funding as a key challenge (Nonprofit Quarterly).

NYU lists the study’s own recommendations directly: supercharge libraries into full-service community hubs, expand recreation and play spaces for all ages, make gathering spaces resilient to extreme weather, turn streets into safe social connectors, and hire community partners to run and activate public spaces (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge).

Analysis: the strongest claim here is not “build a park.” It is “connect the parks, libraries and streets you already have, then fund the people who run them as one system.” A single excellent library cannot compensate for a main street with nowhere to sit.

Co-author Julia Day frames the payoff in civic terms: when social infrastructure is readily available, easily accessed, comfortably designed and consistently cared for, people can “meet everyday needs, form relationships, and build trust” (NYU Institute for Public Knowledge). Flatbush’s folding chairs show the demand is already on the sidewalk. The question is whether the city meets it with benches, shade and staff — or leaves residents to carry their own seats.

Sources

1. Reimagining the Civic Commons — “The Critical Infrastructure of Connection” (6 October 2026): https://medium.com/reimagining-the-civic-commons/the-critical-infrastructure-of-connection-e42775f0cd6f
2. NYU Institute for Public Knowledge — “Social Infrastructure is Essential Infrastructure” (2026): https://ipk.nyu.edu/initiatives/cities-communities-and-social-infrastructure/
3. Nonprofit Quarterly — “The disappearing commons and the role of nonprofits in protecting our third spaces” (19 October 2026): https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-disappearing-commons-and-the-role-of-nonprofits-in-protecting-our-third-spaces/