Community Gardens as a Third Place
During this season of harvest, reflection, and celebration, I’m thinking a lot about community resilience. And delighting in the fact that during each growing season, DUG community gardens and food forests become cherished “third places.”
I first became aware of the concept of the third place in business school. I did a group project on Starbucks. While most people think Howard Schultz’s primary mission was to sell Italian-style coffee to the American masses, it was, in truth, to fill a growing void in American culture — to establish his coffee houses as a much needed American third place.
In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”).
Originally coined by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the 1980s, third places are “anchors” of community life, facilitating and fostering broader, more creative interaction. In other words, “your third place is where you relax in public, where you encounter familiar faces and make new acquaintances.”
Furthermore, “beyond single instances of individual-level social interaction, third places can serve to generate social surplus: collective feelings of civic pride, acceptance of diversity, trust, civility, and overall sense of togetherness within a locale through sustained use and connection among residents.”
If you participated in a community garden this summer, hopefully this is evoking elements of your experience. Now that the season is over, take a moment to think about the people you met, the shared joy you found as you prepared the garden, reveled in the miracle of the growing season, shared tips and worked together to put the garden to bed so it could rest and regenerate for the next season. Regardless of your level of formal engagement at the garden, the mere fact that these gardens exist as a third place for you to grow your food is something to celebrate.
Third places have become increasingly critical as we face what the US Surgeon General has declared, an Epidemic of Loneliness. Not only does loneliness impact mental health, loneliness and social isolation increase the risk of premature death by 26% and 29%, respectively — the same risk posed by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Specifically, lack of social connection increases risk of heart disease by 29%, stroke by 32%, depression and anxiety and depression as well as susceptibility to viruses and respiratory illnesses.
Matching science with science, a 2011 study shows that community garden participants report an increase in social connections, with 71% engaging in more social interactions and 59% developing new friendships within the community. And, more recently, a 2023 study demonstrated a decrease in stress and anxiety levels, with those who came into the study most stressed and anxious seeing the greatest reduction in mental health issues.
In the next 4–6 months, it is unlikely most of us will be visiting our gardens. But I ask that during this time, we continue to build on the third places we created. Lets visit and celebrate our gardeners and our glorious communities. Let’s commit to extending the third place to our homes, dinner parties or coffees. Reach out. Be curious. Connect.
Oldenburg et all (Dec 1982). The third place. Qualitative Sociology. 5, 265–284.
Pete Myers (2012). Going Home: Essays, Articles, and Stories in Honour of the Andersons. Lulu.com. p. 37. ISBN 978–1–291–12167–4.
White, Rebekah (July-August 2018). “A third place”. New Zealand Geographic (152): 6.
Litt et al (Jan 2023). Effects of a community gardening intervention on diet, physical activity, and anthropometry outcomes in the USA (CAPS): an observer-blind, randomised controlled trial.The Lancet Planetary Health.Vol 7, Issue 1, E23-E32.
Litt et all (Aug 2011). T he influence of social involvement, neighborhood aesthetics, and community garden participation on fruit and vegetable consumption. American Journal of Public Health. 101(8):1466–73.
Latham A, & Layton J (2019). Social infrastructure and the public life of cities: Studying urban sociality and public spaces. Geography Compass, 13(7). doi: 10.1111/gec3.12444.
Klinenberg E (2018). Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group.
Dr Vivek H Murthy (2023). Our Epidemic of Loneliness & Isolation: The US Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection & Community.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
