Third Spaces

[Meagan Booth]

Hi everyone! I’m excited to be presenting at the upcoming National APA Conference in Denver on the topic “Generational Divide? Building Your Youth Engagement Toolkit.” As part of my presentation, I plan to explore the concept of Third Spaces and how we can create age-appropriate versions of these spaces to better engage youth.. As part of the session, we’ll be diving into a fishbowl discussion about Third Spaces—specifically, how we can design age-appropriate spaces that effectively engage youth.

Put your nostalgic hat on for a moment—what are some Third Spaces that worked really well in your city, but no longer exist? And on the flip side, which current Third Spaces are thriving and catering to specific age groups? Your insights will be incredibly valuable in shaping our conversation, and I’d be grateful for any examples you can share. I’d also love to offer some examples from Utah!

Thanks so much in advance for your help—I truly appreciate it.

Meagan Booth

• This topic was modified 4 days, 18 hours ago by Meagan Booth.
• This topic was modified 4 days, 18 hours ago by Meagan Booth.

[Nicole Masson]

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[Brian Carver]

What a cool topic to tackle, Meagan.

Some of the places I remember are the neighborhood convenience store and the video game cabinets that my friends and I would hang around after school or on weekends. Or the candy store across the street from the junior high school. It was always fun to run into people and socialize at the movie theater. Growing up in the ‘Burbs of Davis County, vacant lots between subdivisions were our wilderness areas to explore and create spaces within.

As we got older and more mobile, places like malls in Salt Lake or Layton became social venues. Local fast food restaurants and cafes would attract their own group of regulars. We’d gather outdoors in local parks or in accessible areas of the fringes of development, whether public lands or privately owned and unrestricted – or at least unenforced. It’s not trespassing if they don’t catch you, right?

Technology and trends have changed some of these places. There are no video arcades anymore, just fleeting homages to ’70s and ’80s nostalgia. The malls have become obsolete, or have they? But restaurants and other commercial venues like music stores or game stores create spaces and attract groups. Parks and open spaces are getting loved and used too much, if anything. Some of these private spaces self-segregate, while others attract a diversity of ages.

All through this, I see schools – public and private – as a major Third Space for young people. The opportunity to build social skills and connections is one of the major intents of group schools. These spaces need to be safe, accessible, and comfortable for young people to experiment in creating their place in the world. The flexibility needs to be there to adapt to a variety of activities, provide different levels of privacy and openness, and full of inspirational materials to enlighten minds and spark curiosity. I could go on.

[Brian Carver]

Another Third Space that’s been on my mind is the swap meet at the old Redwood Road Drive In theater grounds.

So many other places in the world have open markets, plazas, or dedicated public forums for people to gather and exchange goods, services, and ideas. It’s something we’ve moved away from in our society for a number of reasons, but it comes at a cost of a certain level of economic opportunity, cultural vibrancy, and community energy.

The virtual agora of the Internet – which is about all youth these days know – has its uses, but it just isn’t as good at building deep connections. Or self-regulating civility, for that matter.  Are we raising a whole generation of human beings who think the only way to discuss a complex issue is to boil it down to a tweet and shout and bully the opposition into submission? If we had to gather in the town square to shout obscenities at each other in person, instead of throwing online jabs, I think we’d be a little more moderated in our conduct with other human beings.

• This reply was modified 3 days, 13 hours ago by Brian Carver.

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