In Urban Design, there is a term for informal gathering spaces, coined by
Ray Oldenburg, called the Third Place:
“a setting beyond home and work (the “first” and “second” places respectively) in which people relax in good company and do so in regular basis.” This becomes that hub in a community, the place where people go to meet people, to be aware of what is happening around them, to see and be seen. Such as coffee shops, community centers, bars with the same regulars for happy hour, that type of place. I have been fascinated for a while by the ongoing discussion of how Third Places fit with modern cities. Modern American city planning encourages nesting – think of suburban homes becoming larger and larger, including private pools, movie-viewing rooms, space for a full bar, private decks, etc. Entertainment becomes a private notion rather than being in a public setting. Even suburban clubhouses are private in nature, as they require a type of membership for use – living there. I have an entire
schpeal about suburban city planning, but I wont kick a puppy while it’s down, as suburban developments haven’t been doing well lately.
Some people also feel that the
Internet acts as a Third Place. I find this concept to be very interesting and spent, in fact, an entire semester of graduate school discussing this in class – digital communities, social networking, forums, multi-user games, etc. And though I agree with the functionality of the web as a tool for socialization, personally I crave physical proximity. Third Places persist, as they are in many ways a vital part of how we interact with the world. We still find coffee shops and places that are of a public nature, where we can democratically intermingle with the community.
Oldenburg said
"The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people's more serious involvement in other spheres. Though a radically different kind of setting for a home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extends…They are the heart of a community's social vitality, the grassroots of democracy, but sadly, they constitute a diminishing aspect of the American social landscape.”
I realized today that Ozzie’s, a coffee shop in my neighborhood, might just be a perfect Third Place by every definition.
I wrote about Ozzie’s a few days ago, in my search for good coffee shops in which to study. I went today to the main location on 5
th Avenue, a few blocks from my house. The 5
th Avenue location is larger, brighter, with bigger tables and more windows, a
nicer model to the smaller location in front of my house. And as I discovered today, it is also a great community hub.
For starters, a major characteristic of Third Places is that they tend to be from the community to the community. Ozzie’s is locally owned and only has two locations, both in the neighborhood. They also have a major wall to a
bulletin board advertising everything from guitar lessons, moving services (“a guy with a truck”), to tutoring and computer services. Nothing too crazy, but it’s always nice to see home made ads. There is also a bookshelf for free book exchanges, free
wi-
fi, computer and printers on a pay as you go basis, a full table with local magazines and newspapers, sandwiches, and board game night on Thursdays.
The thing that really got me, though, was that people were using the space. I was sitting across from a young hipster mommy group. Six or so young mothers and their babies, drinking coffee and conversing about movies or whatever, all the while breastfeeding, burping their children, and balancing them around with expert ease. Yes, the kids were a bit loud, but no one complained. This is a child friendly establishment. Probably because the rest of the clientele was, respectively, an old couple reading the newspaper, a group of teenage girls giggling about boys, 6 or so tables with students and their laptops, some young people reading books, 3-4 tables with kids being tutored in math, and some parents who were waiting for their kids to meet them there after school. Everyone had a stake in the place. And it made me realize that Ozzie’s, along with selling coffee and pastries, is providing the community with a basic gathering point. People know a meeting space is their at their convenience, and this is powerful knowledge.
It was one of those moments where all the things I learned in school clicked in a whole new personal way. The nerdy urban designer in me had a totally exhilarating moment. My “cool”
façade betrayed nothing. I feel like I could geek out on this for hours, and go into my excited rants of how amazing it is to live in a medium-density vibrant mixed-use neighborhood, but I think I should finish.
After all, my reason for coffee shop searching was to study for
LEED. And I still need to get some reading done tonight.
