You may have heard of third places before, but in case it’s new to you, they’re essentially community spaces where you can chill & socialize…Like here, I suppose! But typically they refer to in-person community spaces.
Does your area of the world still have a number of these, or are they in the decline? Do you know if your in-person communities are trying to establish or renovate theirs to help people connect or reconnect with one another?
I’m really interested in this. I think every area has some unique challenges (recent problematic earthquake here) and opportunities (tight nit community). What I see in many places boils down to money. What few places we do have in my little town are in poor shape, one more shake or blow away from shuttering. In many places in my country, funding can be had for building things. Grants. But nothing for operating. Budgets are too thin, communities are made up of people that cannot help with funding.
I would rather avoid taking a dump on capitalism, but third places are services, fundamentally, and as long as any of them are viewed as revenue generators, they cannot win. We all lose. Just as a local school does not have to raise its own money directly, we probably need external finding for communal places. Non-profit coffee shops? Maybe. My thoughts. I ate at a diner, nightly, for years. Got job referrals from other regulars. Met a combat barber 😳
We have to fight the rot from within, I think.
Certainly an idea! And I agree, it’s an uphill struggle for each area, but it’s well worth it if it brings folks together. Hell of an anecdote it brought you, that’s for sure!
Reminded me of how there’s a sort of recreation spot in a city near me where thanks to working with another organization they were able to get enough funding to make entry fees almost nothing, and I think some days or for folks of certain ages, even free. Just before the pandemic I’d gone a few times to check it out, and it was a nice place!
What was even better is it offered some teens a first job if I’m not mistaken, giving them a place to work that wasn’t a lousy fast food place or retail.
As I understand it, any suggestion that anything should be operated without the express goal of generating a profit is “taking a dump on capitalism,” as you put it. Or at least, it is, if the reactionaries who call you a communist when you suggest such a thing are anything to go by.
I’m also going to second another user in this thread and bring up the influence of cars as discussed by Not Just Bikes as a factor that’s at least equally significant.