Is Shopping/Consuming/Driving a Substitution for the Third Place?

I've been reading a lot about "Third Places" in the past few days. For those of you who don't know, a Third Place (First being Home, Second being Work) is a community place to interact with other peeps. Ray Oldenburg, the Author of "The Great Good Place" declares four main requirements for a Third Place:

1. "They must be free or relatively inexpensive to enter and to purchase food and drinks.
2. They must be highly accessible, ideally one should be able to get there by foot from one’s home.
3. A number of people can be expected to be there on a daily basis.
4. All people should feel welcome, it should be easy to get into a conversation. A person who goes there should be able to find both old and new friends each time they visit."

In Raleigh, we even had a coffee shop called Third Place and it was exactly that. Here, we have our lovely JP's, and it functions wonderfully. The problem is, where are all the Third Places going ? Despite the Starbucks revolution there is still not a coffee shop or local bar within any sort of walking distance of most suburban homes and often there is relatively little seating there that is comfortable enough to envourage you to stay longer than it takes to finish your coffee. Former third places such as barber shops and beauty salons have ceased to exist in that function (unless you are watching Steel Magnolia's or Barbershop the movie). Chain stores and big boxes does not condone friendly loitering and scholarly discussion.

So what is the result then, of the general decline in third places and in an environment that could even support third places? People need a certain amount of social interaction within the day within different "spheres" of their life. That is to say that it is human to want interaction with co-workers or neighbors if you have only seen your family all day (this does not mean that you don't love them :-) ). So if one does not interact with such neighbors in an organic neighborhood setting, they may travel to do so. This is the case with telecommuters. When doing background research for my thesis, I found research (Harvey, A. and M. Taylor. "Activity Settings and travel behaviour: a social contact perspective." Transportation, 2000. Vol. 27, pp. 53-73.) that showed that despite telecommuters decreasing the amount of home-to-work traffic, they often made many short trips during the day, perhaps to "fill their non-family social interaction sphere". So instead, us suburbanites SHOP. I am not suggesting that b/c there are no third places we shop, but the act of shopping does fill a void of interaction, is free to do (as long as you don't buy anything) and is full of loitering teenagers and adults alike, meandering through aisles of "stuff". Sadly, the mall has become the social center of the suburban universe. sigh. Somehow, I think that perhaps the social capital of a mall is just not QUIIIITE equal to that of a third place...yay france!

Here are Oldenburg's comments about the positives of third places:

1. Third places provide a place for people to get to know each other.
2. A third place can act serve as a neutral ground which provides an ease of association.
3. They provide a sorting area where one can meet people with similar interests.
4. They bring together people for the first time who may later go on to develop other forms of association.
5. They provide a staging area. It times of local crisis people can assemble and arrange ways of helping each other.
6. Third places help create “public characters” – people who seem to know everybody in the neighborhood. They keep an eye on things, they alert parents about their child’s behavior before things reach a critical point, they welcome others to the neighborhood.
7. They bring youths and adults together.
8. They provide a place for the elderly to meet and interact with each other as well as those who are younger than they.
9. They unite the neighborhood.
10. They provide a place for exchanging information.
11. Third places serve as political forums.
12. They serve as offices for those who don’t have them or as neutral ground for those that do

Urban Paradoxes

So I know that I forwarded most of you this post "what-if" describing some things that this dude thinks are in need of fixing/changing.

• Which ones do you guys think are the most important?
• Is there anything that you think we are capable of doing to fix any of this?
• Decision-makers to talk to...
• Specific legislation that could be passed (such as is needed for any kind of "regional approach" in Texas"
• Technology that can be implemented?
• Topics the public should be more educated about? (myths to fix, etc.)
• Install monorail service immediately, etc.
  

I think that Austin at least has a head start in many of these things because people are not afraid to "speak up". Yet still, crap happens!

Development Oriented Transit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58552-2004Nov17.html?sub=AR

"New Metro Station Carries Civic Hopes

WASHINGTON, DC - Work crews installing Metro's signature hexagonal bricks on the platform at New York Avenue for a station's scheduled opening Saturday are putting the finishing touches on an unusual structure. The new Red Line stop amid the rail yards north of Union Station and south of Rhode Island Avenue NE will serve about 1,500 passengers a day to start, making it among the least-used in the area's transit system, Metro officials said.

But the District leaders and Metro officials who have been planning the station - the first one to open within the original 83-station network since that system was completed nearly four years ago - hope the stop will prompt construction of high-tech firms, government offices and apartment high-rises on the neighborhood's undeveloped land. "You often hear about transit-oriented development, but this is development-oriented transit," said John D. Thomas, the station's project manager. "In a few years, the landscape will be considerably different. This area is ripe for redevelopment."

The station, officially named New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University, is partially funded by private firms and showcases a sleeker, more modern look . . . When the idea for the $103.7 million station was raised in 1998, businesses near it offered to tax themselves to take out a 25-year bond worth $25 million toward its construction. If property values rise after the opening of the station, which has entrances on Florida Avenue and on M Street, the businesses will receive a tax credit. The federal government paid an additional $25 million, and the city paid $53.7 million for the project . . .

Metro officials said growth in the area will combine to bring as many as 10,000 daily passengers to the station by 2020. In the meantime, they have predicted, passengers will be drawn from existing businesses, the nearby bus terminal, Gallaudet University and the neighborhood near the station. They also expect passengers to connect by Metrobus to a new stop on Florida
Avenue. Hugh Panero, chief executive at XM Satellite Radio, said it was
the station fulfilling his hopes of being in a place "tied into the vibrant nature of the city" that made him choose New York Avenue over other sites. "Having a Metro stop across the street is one of these catalysts that brings people, brings commerce and brings development," said Panero, who has been running a shuttle between XM and Union Station for his workers. "I think it enriches the whole area." . . .

So...reading this made me think of:

1. Oden's class - talking about TIFs (Tax Increment Financing). For non-Odenites, TIFs allow disinvested areas to invest in upgrading infastructure that can be payed back to the city by an increase in property taxes, and any residual debt will be paid for by the taxing jurisdiction (I think these things sound like a pretty rotten idea but Oden seems to like them. I think they sound like yayyy gentrification!). Also these jurisdictions must agree to not demand any further infastructure improvements.
   
2. Austin "TOD", which is really "DOT" as defined in the article since the commuter rail goes through basically no existing dense development, but goes through areas that can be redeveloped to increase tax revenue. yup. woohoo Leander!!! What are you guys doing with this stuff (since i missed happy hour)?

For more TIF info, TIF Handbook, Second Edition by Neighborhood Capital Budget Group of Chicago

"All Systems Go" Austin Captital Metro Transportation Plan

Transpworld for TranspKids

So I will be moving to D.C. soon, but I don't want to lose all that "Tacit Knowledge" (thanks Dr. Oden) that I get from being around all you idealists (and pessimists...dont want to leave you guys out either). Mostly, I wanted a place to organize thoughts, discussion, and learning about

• transportation,
  
• planning,
  
• the environment,
  
• public health, and
  
• life, the universe, and everything

So I hope that you all will help me urthur my (and all of your) education past what you learn about in class and at work...and discuss stuff that really matters..mmhmmm! Think of it as a virtual happy hour (so basically I am just jealous that I cannot participate in HH remotely). The more, the merrier! Suggestions welcome!