A tale of many cities: Mapping social infrastructure and social capital across the United States

Abstract

Research has underscored the role that social infrastructure - the places and spaces that help build and maintain social ties - plays in improving quality of life, lowering crime, and creating connection. Little work to date has shown how, across multiple urban environments, these parks, community centers, cafes, mosques, libraries, and other facilities correlate with bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. Our paper seeks to better understand the relationship between social infrastructure and bonding, bridging, and linking social capital along with inter-city differences in social facilities. We use Google map data from 25 urban centers in North America along with information from census-tract level Social Capital Index (SoCI) scores to map out these connections. We find that, controlling for other factors, social infrastructure positively correlates with bridging social capital - the weak or thin ties that build heterogeneous groups. As intended, many forms of social infrastructure help people engage with broader and more diverse networks, that is, provide a structure for connective democracy. Further, some cities' residents have extensive access to social infrastructure - such as those of Washington DC - while in others, such as Los Angeles, have far less. These findings bring with them policy recommendations for communities, NGOs, and decision makers alike.