Finding Our Third Place
Home is our first place. Work is our second place. The places we go that aren't our homes or jobs, such as restaurants, parks, corner stores, bars, houses of worship, etc, are our Third Places.
What is a Third Place?
I first encountered the term “Third Place” several years ago when Starbucks Coffee started marketing its stores as “Americas Third Places.” To this day Starbucks continues with this positioning and for good reason. As a vibe, it taps into a human need to socialize in a way that’s been really good for business. Just visit any of their stores in University City and you’re sure to experience it, the regulars who know the baristas by name, the people reading their books, working on their laptops, on their coffee dates, and holding their informal meetings. Of course, just about all of them are sipping a Starbucks beverage.
In recent years, Starbucks has struggled to maintain its Third-Place image as noted here and here and here. But this is not a post about Starbucks’ bonafides. It’s about what the coffee corp tapped into: Third places, how they’re good for us, and where to find ours right here in Rumple Road / Mineral Springs.
Originally coined by University of Chicago sociology professor, Ray Oldenburg, a Third Place is a place we go in our community that’s not a home or a job. Here in Derita, Maria’s Grill is a Third Place and so is Thereasea C. Elder Park or the many houses of worship in our area. What all three places have in common is that they’re all places we may go to be in public, to be around our neighbors and fellowship.
What does that mean for us?
"What suburbia cries for are the means for people to gather easily, inexpensively, regularly, and pleasurably -- a 'place on the corner,' real life alternatives to television, easy escapes from the cabin fever of marriage and family life that do not necessitate getting into an automobile."
I don’t know about you, but this quote resonates with me every time I find myself on the way to elsewhere, University Place, the public library, NoDa, Downtown Derita, Plaza Midwood, Uptown, South End, North End, LoSo, almost always anywhere but here in Mineral Springs because, by design, there’s likely no other place worth going to that’s within a safe walking distance from home besides home.
Think about your regular third places. Where do you like to go? Are these places far from your home or nearby? Do you have to travel by car to get there? Would it feel safe and convenient for you to walk or ride your bicycle there?
I have a test question to determine if a street is safe for pedestrians, “Would you allow your 10-year-old child to cross that street unattended?” When considering the makeup of N. Graham Street or University City Blvd, without hesitation I can tell you my answer is “no.” Unfortunately, that leaves our part of Derita devoid of Third Places, aside from a few houses of worship. And, by law, we’re in a tough spot. It’s illegal to build a walkable coffee shop or restaurant in our area per our current zoning code and relevant HOA policies. Moreover, despite places like the Derita School grounds or Maria’s being within a reasonable walking distance for a lot of us, we’re cut off by the North Graham Street extension, a dangerous 4-lane road, built to move lots of fast-moving car traffic much better than it is at accommodating pedestrian safety.
Finding Our Third Place
At least for now, we’re stuck with the four-lane roads. But we don’t necessarily need to go without a walkable Third Place. 5334 University City Blvd is a 1.4-acre city-owned parcel. This nicely shaded property used to have a home. What’s left today is essentially a pleasant, large backyard. As a fellow neighbor, I invite you to grab a lawn chair, snacks, and maybe some music, and visit this site. Be sure to invite others to join you too.
I so hope you’ll stop by this old backyard and, while there, that it catches your imagination the same way it caught mine, that you too find your Third Place here.
If you want to see more walkable Third places developed in our corner of Derita, please join me in pushing the City of Charlotte to preserve this parcel for us with placemaking resources to truly make it ours.
Click here to learn more about Derita Third Place and our work towards preserving this land as a safely walkable open space for our neighborhoods.
Additional resources on Third Places:
The Community Concourse: Parks Serve as “Third Places” in NYC Neighborhoods - OPENspace - The official blog & podcast of NRPA
Fighting loneliness with parks and third places - Public Square - a CNU journal
Biographical Info on Ray Oldenburg - Project for Public Spaces