Tuesday, you heard the basics about what a third space is.* I’m sure most of you inherently realize that, including in this city, those kinds of spaces aren’t prioritized.
I was only back from college at the tail-end, but I’ll remind you that even the Family Fun Center took years of fighting with the City commission to get in this community, just for it to be shut down recently. Alamogordo has a pretty hard time holding on to places solely dedicated to enjoyment and socializing, especially when prices were so high just to bowl.
A more modern conception of the third space also includes a place you can exist at low-to-no cost, given how expensive groceries, insurance, bills, childcare, etc. etc. have become in the past few decades. The most obvious reason for their decline is that these kinds of spaces don’t bring in much money, so of course they don’t last.
The longer answer is a bit more complicated, even though it ultimately leads to the same place.
Urban sprawl resulting in car dependence, according to Arch Daily, “carved through urban neighborhoods,” taking away natural gathering spots. Until fairly recently, urban planners didn’t really consider the importance of human activity in places not designated as “public.”
Shopping malls for a very long time served this function fairly well. You can eat, you can shop, you can just walk around. As we all know, though, online shopping has largely taken over, and retail stores have been struggling to stay open because of it. Another factor directly linked to retail decline is the space needed for malls. Increased space, roads, and parking pushed consumers further and further away from their third space, making online retail much more convenient.
Another third space that used to be a bit more widely popular was the church. Speaking for this community, we have plenty of those, but they have declined as a viable space largely due to decreased membership and distrust. It’s a trend that many churches refuse services based on religious beliefs about identity, and people know that. They aren’t going to inherently trust that they’re safe to be themselves in a place that has historically discriminated against them.
Lastly, and I do love full-circle moments, are slowly-improving zoning laws. Ray Oldenburg himself decried them as only unifunctional. When a city disallows commercial zoning to be near residential zoning, it creates even more urban sprawl, more time spent commuting, more money on maintaining a personal vehicle, and more importantly, more loneliness.
The elephant in the room that needs to be taken into serious consideration is disabled people, like me, exist. Article after article that I pulled up for this post insisted a third space had to be in-person to be effective, yet plenty of places simply aren’t accessible (something even Oldenburg called for in the 80s).
I have the privilege of not always needing a mobility aid to get around, but plenty of permanently or temporarily disabled people do. Some disabled people also need to be in quieter environments in order to participate. Everyone but especially disabled people need level, not cracked-to-hell sidewalks to get to a place to begin with if they can’t find a ride. Some need a bigger place to park when they get there for things like a wheelchair or oxygen tank, but good luck getting the one or two disabled spots in a city built around car use.
We’re seeing the patterns, right? These zoning laws aren’t just a problem for Black families. Walkability is not just a problem for disabled people. Community means accommodating for all of its community members, because it benefits everyone.
Some urban planners have ideas to fix a few of these problems, like tearing down malls and converting them into mixed-use spaces suitable for something more akin to a market square. Here, it’s taking quite some time, but the downtown area on New York Ave. is being renovated into a better gathering area, complete with better sidewalks, more public art, and more benching. It’s definitely a good start.
My next few weeks will be focusing on my personal favorite third space here: the Alamogordo Public Library.
Until Tuesday,
Salud!
*Oldenburg’s term is third place; third space seems to be more based on Third Space Theory, and yes, I prefer it for a reason now.
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