Book Review - The Character of the Third Place

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Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place, Da Capo Press, Unite States of America, 1989. 311 pp. , ISBN: 978- -0 0- - 78675- - 241- -6 6

REVIEWED BY: Racines, Caterina; Mejía, Carlos. Universidad Internacional Sek, Ecuador - Quito

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Introduction

Ray Oldenburg lived in a modern context of diffusion and in turn its decline, which was full of changes and shortcomings in the concepts of the modern movement. Therefore, they led him to understand the city from another perspective, giving importance to informal places, and categorizing them in his book with the term "third place". In the same way, the book was written in 1989 in a postmodern context, in which the crisis of functional cities began to be reconsidered with certain principles of the modern movement, reinterpreting it to give a relationship of city and users. Basically, the author speaks of the third place, categorizing them as neutral public spaces, in which the relationship between people is promoted to establish social ties, promoting social equality. In this way, the third place works as articulations between public and private spaces, developing cooling systems that keep the city in constant movement and not collapsed, resulting in a welcoming atmosphere that functions as a home away from home, since it is a territory neutral and there is no social status. This book deals with really important issues of the city, which were not taken into account, despite the fact that they were spaces over time used and not given the importance of having them. For this reason, it seems like it’s a book that clearly explains the necessary spaces within the city, which generate connections between different users, resulting in an increase in social relations. On the other hand, it also addresses issues or problems in Latin America, which makes us realize that it is failing to make a city. Certainly, they are subjects to debate, however, they help to reflect and rethink the spaces that really promote social relations and the good use of these neutral spaces or third place.

Book review

This book is an investigation which is based on 20 years of gathering information on the informal public life of society, in this way obtaining pertinent data from the public domain of people. The author seeks to define and describe both problems of certain individualized spaces and the absence of others which would improve community life, resulting in theories and reflections throughout 4 chapters. During these chapters the basic foundations of the book are shown, that is, a part of contextualization and conceptualization. In this way, this part addresses the problem of place in America, exemplifying through American life which is irregular and fragmented since there is no form of integral community. This is how a criticism is given about the fragmentation of both the place of residence and the place of work, generating an individual subdivision, where a person lives in one place and works in another, but there is no place where he feels, is in company and can relate to other people, generating different reflections on community life. In addition, it also presents and defines the term "third place" as a response or solution to the aforementioned, developing the character of these places, personal benefits and the greater good within the community and the city itself. Within what the author of the term describes, he mentions that it is not a total solution to the problem, however, he mentions certain important elements that have great relevance. In this way, it defines three realms of experience, the first being domestic, the second being profitable or productive, and the third being inclusive social, thus offering the base of the community where each of these areas of human experience are based on associations and relationships. Understanding in this way the character of the third place as the configuration of central environments of informal public life, since these places share common and essential characteristics crossing the limits of culture, resulting in a neutral space for conversation between different types of people.

On the other hand, in the following chapters the author exemplifies some of the places that are within the term third place, where he describes their functions and social benefits. The places that I exemplify and describe are: the English pub, the French cafe, the American tavern, the beer gardens and the main street, in which the equality of third place is reflected within these places, where there are no cultural differences, but if personal benefits. The author affirms during these examples that people within third places are precisely those who value the forms of social relationship, in which there is an equity and equality of conversation between people, a space of dispersion, fun and interaction is generated. Benefits found within the third place. In addition, certain reflections on these places are given, since they are places that have been or have been used for several years in European contexts, but which have not been categorized, defined or taken into account, for this reason, the author contextualizes in the same way each place, showing its value from several years ago. Finally, in the last part of the book, within 4 chapters a purely methodological part is shown, which, according to the reflections in the previous chapters, shows how a hostile habitat should be and how third places within the city should be implemented. Taking urban expansions as the third place is not frequently shown in the newer urban environments, since this image of human interaction existed precisely in the old urban structures. For this reason, the author assures within these chapters that third places prosper better in places where community life is informal, where walking leads people to more destinations than the car. These habitats are the result of the street being an extension of the house. In this way, inviting human connection, which was lost after the world war. This is how in the last chapter, the book concludes by describing how places should be, to return to times of coexistence, of vine in community and how safe public places should be.

Conclusion

The place or physical space, is something very important in our environment, since it is taken into account that the needs of human beings are adapted to the space according to its function, through the analysis of certain parameters which are, the operation of the place, the characteristics and as it should be the space to have a comfort and not to harbor some change by long-term consequences.

The shape of the physical space is described as a place where users are free to express their opinion, where there is no hierarchy or someone to put order, resulting in social benefits, which are people who value relationships and interaction with other users of the place, providing equity in their behavior, thus having an empathy with the other person, generating a fun environment, where users have the freedom to go, having a space without any host, establishing scenarios for sustainable activities, giving a welcoming atmosphere that works as a home away from home, since it is a neutral territory and there is no social condition, it is essential the sustained vitality of the third place, since we live in a globalized society thus ensuring the reception of foreigners by the cultural relations in which the space will give life. In short, the third place represents a neutral environment, which accommodates the needs and characteristics of the city, formed by an intermediate space between work and home, generating a connection between them, accepting different types of individuals in the interior spaces.

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REFERENCE ANALYSIS: Study of reference that represents the theory presented