Shrinking Spheres: Are Third Spaces Disappearing in London?

Photo Courtesy: Leo Sauermann via Flickr

After a long day of work or lectures, sitting behind laptops, many find themselves scrolling endlessly through yet another screen, maybe as escapism or just pure boredom. Our days become unremarkable: switching between work, university, and home routinely, with maybe our only laugh being the occasional Instagram reel. Whilst work provides us with projects, goals, social interaction and stimulation, our homes provide a sense of calm, familiarity, and warmth. However, like a venn diagram, there is a space where the comfort of home and the sociability of work overlap. In this space, the third space, another comfort is found. One without domestic, or occupational responsibilities.

The term was coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who explored the third space as an alternative area offering comfort and belonging, outside of the home and work, that facilitates the interaction of known and unknown peoples. They can be found anywhere from churches, libraries and coffee shops, to parks and pubs, or your local corner shop.   

So why are third spaces important? Third spaces allow us to develop our identities outside of the home and workplace, which creates a sense of belonging in wider society.  The third space, uniquely, is characterised by its focus on freedom and socialisation. Unbound by endless duties of work and domestic spaces, we can explore other areas of our identity, talk to new people, without the pre-existing social expectations and boundaries of domestic and work relationships. For Londoners, this is crucial; feeling alone amongst swathes of people can foster unmatched isolation and self-criticality. Paradoxically, many may be more reluctant to immerse themselves within the ‘London life’, racked up by cost; whilst offering more unique activities, they are expensive. Even if you’re in the market for the typical pub trip, your pint will put you out £6-7, and with travel, you’ve totalled a whopping £13. 

This cost-induced isolation risks lingering. Our third spaces are endangered, fading from our lives at an increasingly worrying rate. With social media use rising, third spaces and face-to-face interaction are being wrongly displaced by online communities, catalysed through their increasing inaccessibility.

Why do we often end up online in search of authentic communal interaction, or our ‘people’?  Social media poses benefits beyond the conventional third space: expanding across the country, even the world to find connections and communities over a shared interest. Whilst social media can create genuine bonds, it cannot replace or rival the third space. We are meeting a somewhat 2D version of this person, with whom we only exchange delayed responses once we assemble a ‘good’ answer. We put our best, calculated versions forward, rather than the real ones.  Third spaces foster more authenticity, allowing us to meet the immediate version of someone, rather than their online self-construction.

We could continue highlighting social media’s incapacities in community building, but it doesn’t stunt our reality. There is an increasing number of community centre closures, disproportionately impacting lower-income areas of London. With 46 centres shutting down between 2018-2023, we risk losing the community altogether. This is a particularly worrying statistic, threatening to withhold third spaces from individuals for whom the pub or cafe may be an unrealistic idea due to health, working commitments or cultural reasons. Community centres are important for everyone, but with less disposable income to access costly third spaces, they are essential in working-class communities. They ensure necessary, cheaper access to hobbies, economic aid and education. Closing these down threatens to widen the class divides, not solely monetarily but in quality of life. 

The social interaction that forms the foundation of the third space is essential. It cultivates a feeling of belonging, rather than just existing, in a community. Social interaction is essential for our well-being. Therefore, we must strive for third space revival. However, it is important to maintain the aspects, the feeling, and the interactions of the third space in your daily life, with the increasing inaccessibility of physical spaces, rising prices, and closures. Elements of the third space can be found in the mundane aspects of everyday life. Consider when a stranger asks for directions or you speak to a barista at a coffee shop; a small conversation arises and that tiny moment of genuine interaction helps build up that feeling of belonging that is so crucial to our wellbeing. That is the third space.