Third Places

After going over the structure of a community, I realized that the third place is a very important aspect of a community. Most people have two environmental settings they very familiar with, home and work. While not everyone can accurately pin point a physical third place in their lives. The third place has now taken a more virtual perspective.

I started thinking about my everyday life and I realized that I don't really have a materialized third place that I can go to. There are many sites online where anyone and everyone can be a part of the community. Even in my social life when I go out I am the type of person that likes to go around meeting new people but most people go to social events or parties with their set group of friends. In an urban environment I've realized that most people's attitudes towards each other can be standoffish.

While in other parts of the world third places are not entirely lost in the physical world. I am polish and I visit Poland every few years. My family is from a small village where everyone knows each other and it gives a different sense of community than I would ever get in Chicago. There everyone stops and acknowledges each other in the street, and people generally know what is going on around town because everyone interacts on a deeper level. There are countless third places in the town.

I thought it was interesting how the way an environment is set up influences the third places it encompasses.