Explainer on third placesfrom @paulwillstout

Transcript

Why does it feel like there's no places to hang out? It's not that there's no more third places. It's that access to them is increasingly unequal. If your home is your first place and work is your second place, then a third place is somewhere that is not not home or work. When Ray Oldenburg first coined the term third place in 1989 in his book The Great Good Place, the full title listed cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, and hair salons as examples of third places. Thirty seven years later, how many of these places are still affordable to go frequently? Now, this is where public or free third places, like parks and libraries, are even more important. But the problem is the quality and frequency of these places is also tied to affordability through housing costs. Central Park is often packed, but living close to there is not cheap. This is what the main branch of the New York Public Library looks like inside. But you have to live somewhat close to have it be a true third place. If you have to drive to be with community or to see friends, that costs money each time you go. And without living in a blockable neighborhood or having good bike access, you're likely gonna be driving. We can see this in trends. You can see the amount Americans 15 tier 25 hang out in person has been cut in half since 2003. A lot of young people hang out with their friends now in virtual third places because they've been priced out of the existing physical ones or don't live close to free third places. In many ways, these virtual spaces have become the truest expression of a third place, free and open at any time. But because they aren't physical places, we don't get the same benefit of being together in person, which is super important. The challenge here is not as simple as third places don't exist anymore. It's that access to the ones that do exist is increasingly unequal.