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How did moving to Pensacola inspire \u201cThe Great Good Place\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Our first house was in a new neighborhood with a lot of young people and we all got together regularly. We didn\u2019t let it get to be the sort of private, exclusive neighborhood that\u2019s so common in subdivisions now. Our second and current home is in a subdivision and it\u2019s got privacy built into it like you can\u2019t believe. I thought, why do we even have sidewalks? There\u2019s never anybody on them. The mayor of Charleston used to say that Americans don\u2019t know how to build citi5es. A livable city should have the daily necessities within walking distance, and we’ve moved so far from that. We have to get in the car for everything.<\/p>\n So what did you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n I converted our two-car garage into a bar, created my own third place. I lucked onto a genuine mahogany cabinet and stocked it with liquor. The refrigerator is full of beer, there\u2019s a little wine fridge, and so on. I don\u2019t like to drink that much anymore but I like to think I\u2019m a decent host. We have regular hours, Wednesday and Sunday. All sorts of people come over: the library staff at the university, a brother-in-law, a retired physician and many others.<\/p>\n What\u2019s surprised you most about third places in the last 25 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n The biggest surprise is that the business world picked up on them. Corporations used to believe that the longer they could keep each employee at the desk, the more productive they\u2019d be. That\u2019s just been shot to pieces. Managers found out that if they let people work where they want and when they want, productivity went up. The marketplace is highly competitive and it\u2019s important to be first with new innovations. If you get people sitting together, talking together, innovation comes quicker. And I think that\u2019s going to be the thing for business and industry for a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cManagers found out that if they let people work where they want and when they want, productivity went up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What are the most important third places today?<\/strong><\/p>\n Libraries, fellowship halls and churches, remodeled YMCAs and coffee houses that are affordable to anyone. When I traveled I would always get off the main highway 20 to 30 minutes before I intended to stop because that would bring me into a place where things were real and local. And you sometimes regretted the food you got, but mainly you were glad it was there.<\/p>\n Is social media a new form of third place?<\/strong><\/p>\n Third places are face-to-face phenomena. The idea that electronic communication permits a virtual third place is misleading. \u201cVirtual\u201d means that\u00a0something is like something else in both essence and effect, and that’s not true in this instance. When you go to a third place you essentially open yourself up to whoever is there. And they may be very different from you. If you don\u2019t know your neighbors, you will be suspicious. And if you are suspicious, you will act accordingly. You don\u2019t get neighborly on that basis. If you spend time with people you\u2019re not going to hate them, it\u2019s just that simple.<\/p>\n Do you think businesses should do more to encourage more third places?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would think that that would have some part in holding on to good people. Making sure they get what makes them happy and so on. And I think it should make a difference for the company, that people have that opportunity. It\u2019s a step toward increasing diversity and interaction within that diverse world. And by diversity I mean a lot things:race, religion, ethnicity, what part of the country you came from, the socio-economic differences, so many things that make people different from one another, and interesting to one another.<\/p>\n How beneficial are internal third places located inside workplaces?<\/strong><\/p>\n Does the coffee bring people together? You bet it does. But people still need to get away sometimes. A lot of friendships and good relationships can\u00a0be had at work, but I don\u2019t think you can limit yourself to that. Third places out in the publi realm have diverse occupants, and that’s better for the development of the individual. They provide places where diversity can be far more comfortably experienced. Human beings are social animals, and happy individuals exist amidst other happy individuals. If you have a third place you have more friends. You live longer the more friends you have. Companies would do well to encourage third places in their neighborhoods. Making sure employees have an opportunity to get away can help them hold on to good people.<\/p>\n Ray Oldenburg has identified 10 important functions of great, good places. As more company work environments include what might be called internal third places (on-site caf\u00e9s, coffee and juice bars, other gathering places), we wonder: Do they provide some of the same functions as external third\u00a0places? We’ve starred the ones we think apply.<\/p>\n 1<\/span> 2*<\/strong><\/span> 3*<\/strong><\/span> 4<\/span> 5<\/span> 6*<\/strong><\/span> 7<\/span>
\n10 Functions of Third Places<\/h3>\n
\nPromoting Democracy<\/strong>
\nAs John Dewey once put it, \u201cThe heart and final guarantee of democracy is in the free gatherings of neighbors on the street corners to discuss back and forth and converse freely with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNeighborhood Unity<\/strong>
\nLocal gathering places allow people to get to know others in the neighborhood. Bonds are formed. People learn who can be counted on for what. Suspicion of neighbors is eliminated.<\/p>\n
\nMultiple Friendships<\/strong>
\nThe only way one can have many friends and meet them often is to have a neutral-ground gathering place nearby. The more friends people have, the longer they live.<\/p>\n
\nSpiritual Tonic<\/strong>
\nJoie de vivre or la dolce vita cultures derive from frequent sociability in the public realm. These are most easily identified by an abundance of sidewalk caf\u00e9s in their cities.<\/p>\n
\nStaging Area<\/strong>
\nWhen Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, many people, eager to help, didn’t know where to go as there were no gathering places in the neighborhoods. In times of disaster, unofficial aid comes well before official aid and is often of greater importance. Third places, in this context, allow people to help one another.<\/p>\n
\nGeneration of Social Capital<\/strong>
\nPeople with diverse skills and interests come to know and trust one another. This has a positive effect on the economy. In the Old South, regions that permitted taverns were better off economically than regions that did not permit them.<\/p>\n
\nLower Cost of Living<\/strong>
\nThird places typically bring together diverse occupations, talents and skills. What a person needs help with is one of the first topics of conversation in the group, and if one or more members of the group can lend a helping hand, tool or advice, they will. Most of the people one meets in a third place may be categorized a \u201cweak ties,\u201d and in many ways they are more helpful than close friends, for example, in finding a job.<\/p>\n