Services > Engaging Culture > What is "third place space?"
"Third place" is a phrase that was coined by Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place, originally published in 1989.
Oldenburg identifies three "places" that make up our lives. The first is home, the second is work, and the third is that informal gathering place where "everybody knows your name." He cites the near disappearance of such "third place" spaces in our culture over the past few decades, and does a stunning job connecting many social and personal ills to their extinction. Throughout the book, Oldenburg defines a good third place, outlines the benefits, reminds us of those that used to be, and makes a case for their intentional re-introduction to our society.
At Wildesign Group, we think Oldenburg was on to something. We also think that the ideal place for a comfortable, relaxing, meet-new-people-type space is in a local church. The two go hand in hand. For years, we have been incorporating such spaces into church designs, and we have seen first hand the power of a third place space in (1) drawing the community into the Church, and (2) dawing the local church body into community.