By Ruby Peresso
T.W: War
Since our complex societies are highly susceptible to interferences and accidents, they certainly offer ideal opportunities for a prompt disruption of normal activities. – Jürgen Habermas
Third spaces are crucial for social well-being, physiological health, and a strong sense of community. The term ‘third spaces’, coined by Ray Oldenburg in his book ‘The Great Good Place’ (1989), refers to a place that is distinct from home and work. Oldenburg describes these spaces as an essential anchor for community life. However, what happens when the spaces designed for leisure and community collapse? Where do we retreat to, where do we go?
In a world that seems to be increasingly isolating and hyper-individualistic, urban societies cannot ignore the need for community places because they act as necessary neutral spaces that are easy to access in daily life. The desire for community spaces can be seen in the recent phenomena of celebrity look alike competitions that have emerged in New York City. These competitions take place in public, accessible places like parks or town squares, where people can come together without any obligation to pay. These competitions create a temporary community where people can interact, laugh, and feel a part of something bigger.
The importance of third spaces in cities is not a new concept, especially in cities undergoing a form of crisis. In fact, the first co-working spaces emerged out of San Francisco in 2005 following the Dot-Com crisis, where investors poured money into internet startups driving tech stock valuations to unsustainable heights without considering actual profits. Fuelled by excitement over the new World Wide Web and easy access to venture capital, the NASDAQ Composite Index grew dramatically, but it crashed in early 2000 when the market realized these companies were overvalued and unprofitable, leading to bankruptcies and a significant market downturn. The crisis led to a surge of freelancers and small businesses that needed a cost-effective office space. But it could not be any space – it had to be a space that provided more than just a desk. It also had to provide an environment that functioned as a constructed environment that allows the community to “keep in touch with reality” (Oldenburg and Brisset (1982)). Through its shared infrastructures, such as Wi-Fi, desk space, and even a communal pantry/kitchen, the space allowed those affected by the financial crash to re-establish their careers without the overhead burdens.
Fast-forward. It’s 2020 and the world has just shut down due to Covid 19. Imagine that you are an independent entrepreneur who no longer has access to co-working spaces. You lose this anchor of your daily life. This was in fact the case for most entrepreneurs as over 60% of co-working spaces shut down during the pandemic. So, it is interesting to observe that since the war started in Ukraine at least ten new coworking spaces have opened in Ukraine. In Lviv, Kyiv and Uzhgorod respectively two new co-working spaces were opened while in Ternopil K15 opened (Zhurbas, V., Mariotti).
It’s interesting to ask: What makes co-working spaces thrive during one crisis and not another? It comes down to the nature of the threat and its impact on human proximity and mobility. These spaces have also become caregiving centres. They are no longer simply entrepreneurial spaces, they now serve as bomb shelters, sites to eat, sites to sleep, sites to feel safe – even if it is temporary. This acute shift, characteristic of a war-driven displacement crisis like the one in Ukraine, leverages their existing infrastructure to address existential human needs like safety and stability, rather than just professional needs.
Co-working spaces are not passive in the face of crises but are instead fluid sites that are constantly adapting to fit the needs of the people. They facilitate the urgent re-building of shattered social networks for a massive amount of internally displaced people who need immediate access to new communities and resources to survive in this new place. They give people a second chance. A second chance to create, to forge friendships, and to rebuild the day-to-day life they have lost.
So, it is interesting to see how crisis affects people’s need for these third spaces. In cities like London and New York City that are not facing overt crisis these communal third spaces have become an unacknowledged need. People are not prioritising community building and maintenance which has led them to being priced out of most third spaces. But the use of these spaces in times of crisis reflects just how important fighting for these spaces are.
Image via miniseries