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?