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Forget Zoning, Let's Build Multi-Use Public "Third Places"

The public "Third Place," is something that we could risk losing from our modern, commercially-driven cities. These public spaces, that are not home nor work, promote a social connectedness that is accessible to all. Think of the ancient cities you've visited or seen recreated in movies or paintings. Common to the most vibrant cities of the past was a public center…plazas, parks, amphitheaters, and market places designed to be enjoyed by all and to bring city residents together. Modern American cities have moved away from shared, multi-use public spaces toward designated privatized spaces. We keep residential areas separate from business districts through zoning. We can spend our days moving only between home and work, not interacting with our communities. The importance of "Third Places," places that are not home nor work, have been championed by scholars, city planners, and business leaders. As author/sociologist Robert Putnam puts it, "In the absence of informal public life, living becomes more expensive. Where the means and facilities for relaxation and leisure are not publicly shared, they become objects of private ownership and consumption…What surburbia 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 cabin fever of marriage and family life that do not necessitate getting into an automobile."  

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