Central Park and the Importance of Third Spaces: Raine Buck

 Central Park and the Importance of Third Spaces


Central Park was originally made up of pig pens and low-income housing before it was transformed into a vast park that mimics the landscape of upstate New York. One section of the park features a winding area that gives the feeling of being high in the mountains, even though you are still in the heart of Manhattan. This park was one of the first of its kind in the United States and was designed by Frederick Olmsted.

The park gained such prestige that George Vanderbilt, a member of the Vanderbilt family, hired Olmsted to help develop the landscape surrounding his estate in the North Carolina Appalachians near Asheville. Vanderbilt acquired 125,000 acres of land, later reduced to 8,000 acres, and initially planned to build a traditional European-style manor surrounded by manicured lawn. Olmsted advised him instead to adopt a feudal-lord-style landscape, with the forest growing progressively wilder as one moved away from the house. This approach supported wildlife and created natural hunting grounds, and the management practices developed during this project ultimately contributed to the founding of the United States Forest Service.

Returning to Central Park, it is considered one of the first “third spaces” in the United States. A third space is a publicly accessible environment, distinct from home (first place) and work (second place), where people meet, socialize, and build community. These spaces include libraries, coffee shops, parks, community centers, religious institutions, and even ordinary places like barbershops and grocery stores. Research shows that third spaces provide crucial forms of stimulation, support, protection, and care, offering people opportunities to connect, decompress, and form meaningful social bonds. They contribute to public health by reducing loneliness, stress, and social isolation, and by fostering trust, belonging, and civic cohesion. Their significance is often underestimated, yet they play vital roles in community resilience, sometimes even serving lifesaving purposes, such as functioning as warming centers during extreme weather emergencies. 

However, these spaces have been disappearing across the United States. Since the Great Recession, many categories of third places, such as grocery stores, religious institutions, barbershops, recreation centers, and community organizations, have declined dramatically, creating what researchers call “third space deserts.” When these spaces vanish, people lose not only amenities and services but also the social infrastructure that supports mental health, provides a buffer against stress, and promotes civic harmony. Vulnerable groups, including older adults, children, and socioeconomically marginalized individuals—are disproportionately harmed by these losses. The decline of third places has been linked to rising isolation, political polarization, and weakened community ties. 

In our current car-centric society, we have sacrificed many third spaces originally designed around pedestrian- and train-oriented city planning, replacing them with sprawling parking lots and low-density development. Instead of architecturally rich public spaces, like those found in many European cities, large portions of American cities are dedicated to vehicle storage rather than human connection. Suburbanization has extended this pattern outward, placing urban car parks into rural environments while providing few of the amenities that make traditional urban or rural communities vibrant. As a result, many Americans now lack meaningful access to the kinds of shared spaces that once fostered community, belonging, and political moderation. This erosion of social infrastructure contributes to a sense of marginalization and alienation, factors that scholars argue feed into the fragmentation and rightward drift of political parties in the United States, as shared values become harder to sustain without shared spaces.

On a lighter note, some local third spaces near our school include The Captain’s Den and Cure Coffee, both of which host open mic nights on Thursdays. While The Captain’s Den offers these events less consistently, Cure Coffee maintains them weekly. These small, everyday gathering spots represent exactly the kind of third places that strengthen communities, something the nation is losing but still deeply needs.



Citations:

Finlay, J., Esposito, M., Kim, M. H., Gomez-Lopez, I., & Clarke, P. (2019). Closure of 'third places'? Exploring potential consequences for collective health and wellbeing. Health & place, 60, 102225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102225

Lastikova, M. (2025, April 30). The power of third spaces | Martina Lastikova | TEDxCranfield University. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6vEa1yecgs  

The Vanderbilt family. Biltmore. (2024, April 4). https://www.biltmore.com/our-story/biltmore-history/the-vanderbilt-family/   

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