postcards to third places
As Urban Designers and Planners, we’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about how cities in Washington can prepare for the population growth that is expected to occur in the next 20 years. Front and center in these conversations are elements like land use, housing, transportation, and other infrastructure that makes the city tick. But when we talk to cities about their goals, it’s often the intangibles that weigh heavy on their visions for the future–“a city with character,” “a vibrant community,” “a thriving metropolis of arts and culture”…
At the same time, we’re seeing conversations about the disappearance of third places and the trend towards loneliness and disconnection from community. As cities like Seattle grow, rising rent prices and the pressures of development can squeeze out places that act as vital hubs for art, culture, connection, and community. This loss is apparent through projects like Vanishing Seattle, “a media movement that documents displaced and disappearing institutions, small businesses, and cultures of Seattle - often due to development and gentrification - and celebrates the spaces and communities that give the city its soul.”
The disappearance of third places is not unique to Seattle, nor is it a new issue. As far back as the 1990s, Sociologist Ray Oldenburg was recommending that urban planners course correct away from the disparate suburban pattern designed to “protect people from community rather than connect them to it.” He argued that people need third places–or places outside of the home (“first place”) and office (“second place”). These neighborhood hubs, he wrote, are vital for fostering civic engagement, creating webs of mutual aid, and allowing people to experience the “joy in living” that comes from enjoying the company of those who live and work around you.
Postcards to Third Places
Our Seattle Design Festival installation will invite visitors to customize a postcard for a beloved community hub.
Nurturing our third places
It’s hard to imagine a “vibrant” city that doesn’t have third places. Meeting new people, exchanging ideas, creating together… It all requires space, not to mention the need for a public realm that allows people to put the fruits of community on display. So why are these qualities so hard to plan for? Why, decades later, are we facing the same problem?
Sometimes we try to solve problems with data: Can we quantify the economic benefits of a third place? Can we convince decision makers that protecting community does indeed pencil out? Can we determine a third place formula that can be modeled, replicated…?
Sure, maybe. But if third places teach us anything, it’s that community solidarity is a powerful force. So what if we started by talking about our third places, learning about the places that other people hold dear, and sending those places some love?
The vision
Using recycled doors and cafe tables, our installation aims to embody the spirit of a third place, where DIY elements signal community participation in a space, and add beloved character.
Seattle design festival
Postcards to Third Places is an installation that invites participants to “send love” to their beloved community hubs in the form of a risoprinted postcard. This project will debut at Seattle Design Festival, where we’ll carve out our own temporary “third place,” an installation made of recycled doors and cafe tables. Visitors will customize their postcard and mark the location on a map, telling a story of the places that Seattlites hold dear. Finally, we’ll send the postcards out, a small act of love for these community institutions.
This festival won’t be the first or last time we contemplate how urban planners can advocate for and create cities that allow culture to thrive. After the festival, we hope to connect with many of these Seattle third places to learn more about how they’ve survived the pressures of the last decade. Stay tuned for blog posts with interviews with these community institutions, and reach out to us if you know someone who we should get in touch with!
Creating our third place installation
Donated from Ballard Reuse, recycled doors form the structure of our third place installation, and will be used to display postcards created by guests..
Written by Hope Freije @Framework
