"The third space" was first defined in 1989 by Professor Ray Oldenburg, an American urban sociologist who studied the importance of informal public gathering places for a functioning civil society.
It is a concept which identifies places that are not home (1st place) or work (2nd place). Third places can be churches, coffee shops, gyms, hair salons, post offices, main streets, bars, beer gardens, bookstores, parks, and community centers.
In other words, third places are a community’s living room.
They are important because they act as ‘meditation between individuals and the larger society’ and increase a sense of belonging and community. They are gathering places where community is most alive and people are most themselves.
⭐ Feel free to add any other good readings on third spaces!
The country’s first neighborhood work club.
