The Welcome Resurgence of ‘Third Places’
Purpose-Built Spaces That Strengthen In-Person Communities
At LaunchCapital, we like to pair our day-to-day grind sourcing exciting new investments and supporting our portfolio companies with deep dives on thought-provoking concepts and intellectually-stimulating topics. For this month’s exploration, I enlisted the help of our portfolio company Hall and its CEO Albert Nichols.
Hall is a 2,400 square foot space in Boston’s Back Bay to go to during or after work for healthy dinner, space to be productive, and neighborhood events. Hall has developed a place where busy professionals can come together, meet new people, and discuss and debate topics or ideas over a healthy meal. Along with concepts like The Wing, Soho House, The Assembly, The Assemblage, and others, Albert (who I’ll quote liberally below) and Hall are ushering in a much-needed new generation of Third Places.
With Albert’s guidance, I delved into the foundational principles of Third Places, learned how Hall applied these ideas in building their community, and explored why, even in today’s digital age, humans seek in-person interaction and fellowship within purpose-built spaces.
The Origin of “Third Places” & Why They Matter
“Third places” (also written as “Third Spaces”) was coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book The Great Good Place. In it, he described why community hangouts like cafes, bars, libraries, and salons are essential breeding grounds for social connection, inclusion, and democracy. Today, the concept of these purpose-built spaces is central to urbanist thinking and describes places where communities gather, debate, and trade.
Curbed’s Diana Budds described Oldenburg’s thesis on the Third Place:
“While work is a structured and formal social experience and home is a private experience, third places are more relaxed environments in which people feel comfortable and to which they return time and again to socialize, to relax, and to enjoy the company of those around them.
A cohort of regulars is what makes a third place… in other word’s, [Third Places] are a community’s living room.”
Historically, these neutral venues, largely free from the economic pressures of the office (First Space) and the domestic pressures of the home (Second Space), became critical for fostering relationships and, over time, served as essential building blocks of community.
Where, Oh, Where Have Our Third Spaces Gone?
In the last few decades, as forms of home and work evolved, conceptions of Third Places have changed as well. Understanding their resurgence means first appreciating what they used to be and where they went.
Malls: Around the same time that Americans moved to suburbs after World War II, the first indoor shopping malls were designed to fill a need for public gathering spaces. Over time they became an idyllic town square for capitalism. Between 1970 and 2017, the number of American shopping malls quadrupled and so many were built that they became de-facto social spaces for America’s suburban youth. However, today, most Americans do their shopping online, and amidst the “shopping mall-pocalypse” we are also losing an important, though imperfect, third place.
Churches: Though the idea of religion is still intertwined with the American identity, the daily role religious institutions play in American society has changed drastically. Fewer Americans go to church every year and almost 25% of Americans today are religiously unaffiliated. Beyond the more spiritual roles churches play, their existence historically served vital social and civic functions as well.
Service Unions/Rotary Clubs: French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in the 1830s about the influence of fraternal and civic organizations on American democracy and concluded that they made communities stronger, more interesting, and more engaged. Almost two centuries later, Robert Putnam remarked in his 2000 book Bowling Alone that attendance for Rotary club and Kiwanis group meetings declined by 58% between 1975 and 2000. Once uniquely American innovations, the decline in the membership of these unions and clubs coincided with a loss of civic engagement.
Public Third Spaces: As governments have sought to eliminate public libraries, and decades of under-investment in civic centers has given way to privately-owned publicly operated spaces, true public space has steadily been disappearing in America. While your local Starbucks is certainly one example of a corporate Third Place, there is an argument to be made that the best Third Places are publicly-funded rather than corporation-owned. This is especially true given how tied high-end coffee chains have been to gentrification and how they often aren’t safe spaces for all demographics of people.
“We at Hall believe that in the last 20 years a lot of these relationships have rapidly gone digital, and we [as a society] are still reeling from that.”
The bottom line, as Albert Nichols puts it, is that thanks to the internet, the number of people you can interact with daily has increased exponentially and the amount of friction that it takes to do has decreased drastically. But while people are connecting more online, shopping more online, playing more games together online, the focus shift away from in-person has also meant a decline of the physical and the casual, in-person socializing that accompany them. Communities used to have important, visible places for you to interact with all the people in your extended life and up until recently, that interaction was always in-person.
Everyone’s Online Now, So We’re All Really Lonely
The social internet as the catch-all Third Space for the digital generation is far from a panacea — and in fact, may be doing more harm than good. Seth Godin, author of several best-selling books on marketing in the digital age, argues that digital life has ended traditional mass communication and replaced it with an ancient human social unit: “The Tribe”. These are groupings of people founded on shared beliefs and values.
The openness of internet platforms has amplified perspectives from previously underrepresented Tribes, which is largely a positive development. Sadly other Tribes are also responsible for propagating fake news stories, conducting coordinated cyber-bullying, and building digital echo chambers. Perhaps this happens because it is easy to disregard or silence that which we do not first see, and put a name and a face to. As Albert describes it, the anonymity of the internet exacerbates the issue:
“We’ve become so silo-ed into our own ideas and surroundings that we don’t get enough exposure to people with different beliefs and different perspectives.”
So much of our modern digital loneliness stems from the individual’s sense of not feeling seen or adequately heard. When you’re not feeling seen at your work, or not feeling heard at home, a purpose-built space where you can have positive interactions, in-person, can be a powerful contributor to overall wellness. At Hall, there are still Group Chats and Slack channels that are created by, and represent digital expressions of, the Hall community. By-and-large however, the most meaningful interactions for members happen within Hall’s four walls.
Online congregations will continue to exist but especially in today’s digital era, humans seek in-person interaction as a welcome balance.
Purpose-Built Third Spaces and Why They Drive Communities
Albert and I debated for a while about whether these Third Spaces have to be purpose-built, or whether, one might be able to create that same sense of community, with the same group of people, but via rotating meeting locations. To make his point, Albert first explained that communities are generally built on three principles:
- Irrefutable Commonality: For example, did we all go to the same university, or have we all signed up to run in the same running group? Albert also calls these “Principles of Exclusivity”, where people will self-select communities based on that irrefutable commonality, or lack of it.
- Locations where people interact: For Ray Oldenburg, one of the hallmarks of a thriving community was conversation. For our purposes, these conversations may take place in a single physical space, in many locations, or even online.
- Low-Effort Attracting Quality: This brings people in and helps them establish a routine. As Albert puts it “we all need it, and [this space] is the easiest way to get it”. For Hall, the it became dinner. By having dinner time in the same purpose-built space every single night of the week, Hall fulfills that need, establishes routines, and fosters that sense of community. This is perhaps the most key trait and why actual purpose-built Third Places will have a strong hand in building community.
“Our belief is that taking some of the most common things that people do on a day-to-day basis and providing them with a superior, community experience is where the future of the Third Space really lies”
The kind of purpose-built spaces you seek out are a result of your beliefs and values. For example, the Harvard or Princeton Clubs prize the irreffutable commonality that you went to Harvard or Princeton. Similarly, a big point of differentiation for The Wing was the actual and exclusive space for their members — a women-only physical location was truly unique proposition when they launched. Albert optimizes Hall for the low-effort attracting quality, which for them, is the dinner experience and how it answers the question:
“Do I have somewhere I feel like I belong tonight, that’s not my office or my apartment?”
Coming back to the idea of “floating” Third Places, Albert found common ground with The Wing in how both of their go-to market strategies directly challenge the notion that these spaces don’t need to be purpose-built or can stay purely digital:
“By having a purpose-built space, you increase the number of potential interactions for your members. When you make it more convenient for your members, in-time, that creates a real switching cost for them too. Those interactions are the key.”
Your Beliefs & Values Reflect The Third Places You Choose
Hall’s founding story is inextricably linked to food. It came from Albert’s realization about the lack of positive daily food experiences people have after leaving an institution like college.
“When we talk to our target market (25 to 35 yr olds) about dinner, its not about the cuisine and its not about the ingredients but rather about the place that they are eating at and who they are eating it with.”
Albert uses the word experience often here because for him, that’s really what dinner is. Hall attracts the kind of tribe that values a dinner experience and Albert’s mission is to provide a kind of routine for people that lets them use that dinner time in a meaningful way.
“For us, two people can value the same thing — but believe something different. It’s not about coming to Hall because of your specific set of beliefs, but rather about discovery and exploration”
Oh, and lest you think this kind of actualization is only for digital natives or the “Wellness Generation”, millennials aren’t the only ones pushing for routine change — especially in their work lives. In a recent Staples’ Workplace Index report, respondents of all ages noted that they prefer work spaces that utilized more natural light, featured ample lounge areas, and offered private spaces, such as meditation rooms, for employees. Food also ranked highest among priorities — 83% of respondents reported that well-stocked, healthy food options lead to happier teams.
As our apartments get smaller and work spaces become less defined, the desire spend time at inspiring, socially-oriented spaces increases. But the new Third Places we choose will fundamentally be defined by what we and our in-person Tribes value. When it comes to Hall, they make it very clear to people, right when they apply to join, what exactly it is that their community values.
Hall is about respecting people’s differences, discovering those differences in a safe environment, and sharing your own unique perspectives in the hopes that it helps you hone what that is and then to actualize it.
May we all be so lucky to find our own Third Place that resonate with us the way Hall resonates with their members.
My sincere thanks to Albert Nichols for his generous time and thoughtful perspectives on this topic. If you’re ever in Boston, drop the Hall Team a line, and make time to see this unique space in-person.
Please like (❤ ) and share this article and leave me a comment below with the types of Third Spaces you value in your life and why they matter to you. Please follow @JayKapoorNYC and @LaunchCapital on Twitter for up-to-date insights on Third Spaces and other topics around consumer behavior and technology.
