Third Places
In a time where phones have increased social isolation and where technology is still in its early stages to solve our psychological needs, Third Places attempts to get you closer to your community and yourself in shared spaces. Here’s how!
Third Places is a project that was sitting for a while in the drawer but the recent civil protests here in Lebanon rekindled the urge to push forward with it. After meeting new people, rekindling with old friends, participating, interacting and claiming our public spaces back, it reminded me of the importance of these shared environments.
A term coined by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg, the third place is the social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace, he argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.
The app is a directory to all communal spaces and not just official public spaces, from coffee shops to parks. The app helps you locate the space that is most suitable for your needs and interests at any given time, gets you there and ultimately helps you realize yourself.
In order to get an idea on how to approach the topic, I ran a little survey on a sample of predominantly university students.
Additional to the above, question number 9 was open-ended.
‘‘ In your opinion why don’t we frequent Public Places more often? ’’
After gathering the common issues mentioned in the answers here are the main topics to address by order of frequency:
Poor Urban Planing 33%
Safety 30%
Socio-Cultural Norms 26%
Lack of Maintenance 23%
Poor Management Practices 16%
Lack of Awareness 13%
The Lebanese Civil War had left the nation religiously segregated, coexistence became something to fear and with it came the fall of the state. Today, public places are almost abandoned due to the reasons mentioned previously.
Based on this we will tackle each key feature to try to bridge the gap we citizens are left with.
Directing users to the right places based on their interests.
With most cases attending public places isn't something that we can pull out of our memory. During the two thousands, Lebanese citizens witnessed the rise of the Mall and with it their need for communal spaces was directed into consumerist activities. Now, with this in mind the app opens on a screen where instead of listing the places right off the bat, it exhibits a list of activities or interests. By tapping one, the app offers a list a specific places where the user can perform the requested activity. This is to create anew a link in the user’s memory that such activities can be carried out in such places.
Additionally, and most certainly the ‘option paralysis’ had to be thought of on this screen. Therefore I added a randomizer button at the bottom of the screen to suggest places based on the current location and pre-selected interests.
The Exploration Screens
Once the users select a certain interest, the app directs them to a listing screen with the toggled filters. They can change the location, search for a specific place and adapt the filters to their liking.
The ‘Places’ tab offer different types of listings, by distance, by category, by the most visited places and also a map view.
Once the users select a place, they have access to a gallery, saving the place, a brief history, opening hours, the availability of security guards, logistical details on parking spots, public transportation, reporting maintenance problem to the municipality.
The Safety Feature
Safety first! In order to ease the users concerns, once they reach a certain location the app send out a notification with the necessary emergency contacts, the Red Cross, The Police and the Fire department.
Additionally, if the user happens to be on the place’s screen the ‘directions button’ turns into the ‘safety button’ and hovers over all the screens.