TG10: Social capital: tough ties for tough times (with Professor Daniel Aldrich)

In this episode, Professor Daniel Aldrich of Northeastern University in Boston joined us to discuss how social capital can help get communities through tough times, be it earthquakes, economic crises or flooding.We so are excited to bring you this conversation because it excavates some of the foundational ideas on which The Gloaming rests: As Gippsland strides forward into an uncertain future, Professor Aldrich reminded us of the unparalleled importance of caring for the ties that bind us together. Subscribe to The Gloaming. Stuff we talked about in this episode:

Daniel P. Aldrich is professor and director of the Security and Resilience Program at Northeastern University in Boston (USA). He is a political scientist who earned his PhD from Harvard University. He has published four books (including Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery), with another forthcoming, more than forty peer reviewed articles, and written op-eds for The New York Times, CNN, Asahi Shinbun, along with appearing on popular media outlets such as CNBC, MSNBC, NPR, and HuffPost. His research has been funded by the Fulbright Foundation, the Abe Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, and he has carried out more than five years of fieldwork in Japan, India, Africa, and the Gulf Coast. You can learn more about Daniel’s work on his website or follow him on Twitter. We spoke to Daniel about social capital and its role in helping communities recover from shocks, be it earthquakes, economic crises or floods. Stuff we mentioned included: The role of social capital in saving thousands of lives during the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Professor Robert Putnam’s research and writings on trust, including his books, Making democracy work and Bowling Alone. The decline of trust in Australia Organisations that are successfully building social capital including the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Organisation, Boulder Colorado Strong (BoCoStrong), Ibasho in Japan, and Safecast, a global volunter-centered citizen science project working to empower people with data about their environments. The late American kids TV personality Fred Rogers, and how his ethos build social capital. Of interest, a documentary about Mister Rogers called Won't you be my neighbour? was released in 2018. You can view some of Mister Rogers’ best moments on YouTube. Third places, those anchors of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interact like street parties, town squares, parks, places of worship, clubs, etc. Special thanks... ... to Professor Daniel Aldrich for joining us in this e