Sociologist Eric Klinenberg reflects on the crucial role that public spaces play in building and repairing civic life and preserving the values of democracy.

Libraries, squares, parks, beaches, schools, campuses... Shared public spaces are the cradle of a set of connections and exchanges that are crucial to social life. Based on the reality of North American cities, Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People (published in Spanish by Capitán Swing, 2021), has studied how building and maintaining public spaces correctly can contribute to generate community bonds and solve some of the most urgent challenges we have as a society, among them, the increase in segregation and social polarization. Is it possible that the sustainability of democratic societies not only lies in certain basic shared values, but also in shared spaces?

Presenter: Ethel Baraona