Indispensable and bustling neighborhood centers

This NYT article reinforces the premise of Eric Klinenberg's Palaces for the People. It cites housing projects underway in Chicago that incorporate a branch library; which agrees with Klinenberg's "social infrastucture" emphasis. Indeed the Times says:

In cities across the country, branch libraries, which futurologists not long ago predicted would be made obsolete by technology, have instead morphed into indispensable and bustling neighborhood centers and cultural incubators, offering music lessons, employment advice, citizenship training, entrepreneurship classes and English-as-a-second-language instruction. They are places with computers and free broadband access. (One in three Chicagoans lacks ready access to high-speed internet.)

New York Times /The children’s area of the Little Italy Branch Library
has open spaces and flexible furniture.CreditTom Harris/SOM