François Picard is pleased to welcome Eric Klinenberg, Professor of Sociology at NYU and Author of "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago". He challenges one of the dominant assumptions surrounding extreme heat: that technological adaptation alone can protect societies from climate change. Drawing on his landmark study of Chicago's deadly 1995 heatwave, he argues that mortality during extreme heat is shaped as much by the strength of social ties as by meteorological conditions.
Neighbourhoods with similar levels of poverty experienced dramatically different outcomes depending on the quality of their "social infrastructure": public spaces, institutions and everyday interactions that enable neighbours to recognise vulnerability and care for one another.
