Sociology at Stanford talk: Eric Klinenberg
Please join us for a colloquium being given by Eric Klinenberg, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU, and Research Director for the federal Rebuild By Design competition. His books include Heat Wave, Fighting for Air, Going Solo, and, most recently, the edited collection, Climate Change and the Future of Cities.
Cities, Climate Change, and the Social Infrastructure
Climate change is a dire social and political challenge, and many of the most difficult questions about how to address it belong to the social sciences, including sociology. This talk examines one of these questions: how emerging environmental conditions, such as sea-level rise and extreme weather events, affect cities and communities. It introduces the concept of social infrastructure, the network of physical spaces and institutions that sets conditions for civil society, and illustrates how it mediates climate impacts in different social and ecological contexts. Drawing on his own research as well as his experience as research director for a federal project that has awarded more than $1.2 billion for innovative post-Sandy infrastructure projects, Professor Klinenberg illustrates how sociological insights can advance science and policy for an era of global warming.