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As Toronto’s housing unaffordability peaks and the loneliness epidemic runs rampant, young people in the city are struggling to find accessible third places.
“Places to not be driven to a purpose [don’t] exist. I really see that a lot of the younger generation feel that sense of being unable to meet new people,” said Aaiman Aamir, co-founder of Sukoon Space, a communal art event and workshop.
Beyond the solitude found at home and the hecticness of work and school is what sociologists call a “third place.” The term was first coined in the 1980s by urban sociologist Raymond Oldenberg, who defined third places as “public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact. In contrast to first places (home) and second places (work), third places allow people to put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them.”
There has been lingering discourse online the past few years surrounding the “death of third place.” This refers to the growing commercialization of familiar third places and their effort to stray away from the traditional third place model. A notable example would be Starbucks, a pioneer of commercial third places, who have changed their store layout and reoriented themselves as a grab-and-go coffee shop that prioritizes convenience over spatial comfort.
And although options for coffee shops are plenty in Toronto, the requirement to purchase a beverage in exchange for an in-between space is not something every student in university deems worth it. For Catrina Madeiros, a second-year fashion design student at TMU, that is not a feasible expense.
“I feel like every time you go out, you basically have to spend money to do something. And even if you just want to go study somewhere, you can’t just sit there and study, you have to buy a coffee,” Madeiros said.
As a commuter student from Mississauga, Ont., Madeiros finds herself at the design studio located in Kerr Hall when she is between classes or has a few extra hours to spare. In addition to being able to work on her fashion projects with the resources provided, the design studio also serves as a communal ground for her to connect with other fashion students.
“If I don’t want to go to a coffee shop and have to spend money to sit somewhere, it’s nice that I can sit in the design rooms and also be surrounded by people who are in the same classes with similar interests,” Madeiros said. “I can talk about my projects with them and get help and not only just to work, but to be able to communicate with others as well.”
Aamir founded Sukoon Space with her friend Sidra Kahloan in January of last year, after noticing a lack of third places in the GTA, specifically ones that are economically feasible and open at hours accessible to students and workers.
“I think as a whole, capitalism is really driving this. And until the whole way that we drive value through profit changes, I don’t really see that changing,” said Aamir.
In Urdu, ‘Sukoon’ translates to tranquil peace. Sukoon Space was initiated as a community -based event to practice and preserve ethnic art forms. Attendees are invited to come and create art pieces using traditional methods like Punjabi block printing, Pulakri (Punjabi embroidery) and Tatreez (Palestinian embroidery). Most of Sukoon Space’s events are ticketed at just the material cost, sometimes they’re even entirely free.
Aamir said at Sukoon Space’s core is the objective to create “a purposeless space where you can come and just have fun, do whatever you want.”
“I think when I think about third spaces, I want places where you can feel like you don’t need a purpose to drive you. Second thing is, ideally, it’s accessible, so it’s not behind a paywall that you don’t have to pay to be in that space. Third, it’s inclusive. So anyone, whatever age range, demographic, ability, they can engage in that space in a meaningful way without feeling excluded,” said Aamir.
For Simon Ngo, a second-year fashion student at TMU, a third place is a space that fosters social connections and allows for personal growth. Ngo found his third place at Studio 2 Dance, a recreational dance club that offers free weekly classes at TMU’s Recreation and Athletic Centre.
“I feel like we learn so much there by just attending the classes every week. And it’s also like a socializing opportunity,” said Ngo. “We always have time to converse and from that, I see a lot
of friendships being formed. I feel like it’s a good place to both learn and socialize.”
Riverdale Park is where TMU creative industries student Ren Laurente and their friends established their third place. Beyond serving as a space to gather socially, the park holds much sentimental value for Laurente — mindless hangouts, biking around with friends, even memories of their first kiss.
For Laurente, their preference of parks and public spaces over commercialized ones is one rooted in accessibility and the capacity to gather without social pressure.
“It does have to do a lot with the fact that you have to spend money, or you have to dress a certain way,” said Laurente. “Going to parks or going to random places that aren’t really meant for specific events, it just kind of adds to it. Being with the people that you’re with is so important, it doesn’t really matter where we are, or what we’re looking at, or if we’re sitting on the ground.”
A 2023 National Library of Medicine (U.S.) study shows that both the closure of third places and dissatisfaction with alternative social spaces are associated with the deterioration of social connections and mental health.
University students and young people in Toronto have had to get creative in their approach to finding or establishing third places. Aamir said that implication to the diminishing amount of accessible third places is prevalent on many levels.
“[Third places] really just boils down to feeling a separation from the sense of self, to feeling a little bit bigger and understanding your global impact. At the individual level, there’s a loneliness epidemic, right? We’re just getting further and further isolated and becoming individuals, and that has a huge impact on mental health. It has an impact on our social circles. It has an impact on how we develop as humans, what kind of relationships we have.”
“We’re going to see a lot of individual driven third spaces that are not tied to businesses. These kinds of unofficial, non-corporate gatherings of people that are driven at a small scale, I think that’s really what’s going to change third spaces and how people interact with each other.”
Sena Law, reporter, On The Record F2024.
