Third places
Our friend Mike Knutson over at Reimagine Rural saw our post about Jim Thorpe, and this got him thinking about a recent post he made about third places. Third places are those hot spots in your community where you can share ideas, such as coffee shops. Mike goes into detail about the characteristics of third places here. Third places are neutral ground, accessible and accommodating, and are places where you can routinely run into regulars. In case you are wondering, the first place is your home and second place is your work.
How important are third places to you? Should we make a special effort to design communities with third places?
9:59 pm on October 28th, 2010
Third places are critical to small towns. They allow for a wide dialogue and give non-profit organizations a comfortable place to meet. Our local third place is a funky little coffeehouse – who’d imagine that a hippie shop would thrive in rancher-dominated WYoming? But Rock Rabbit in Pinedale does just that. From the Sunday after church brunch crowd (relatively speaking – just over 2000 population) to the young professionals who dominate the free acoustic Tuesday evenings – this is neutral territory for citizens of all ages. While you could never recreate the unique atmosphere, the idea of a third place can and should be fostered.