First space is home, second space is work, and the third space is where we engage with the social fabric that shapes our lives. It’s where we meet others, share news, build trust, and form social bonds. Third spaces include parks, libraries, cafes, barbershops, airports, bookstores, online forums, elevators, farmers’ markets, and similar places. Historically, these spaces have served as neutral grounds, existing outside cultural, socioeconomic, and racial divides, fostering effortless mingling, chance encounters, and a sense of belonging.

Today, third spaces are in flux. As the world is increasingly mapped and divided for economic growth, these spaces are shrinking. Technology is also transforming them, with augmented realities and intelligent materials creating artificial layers between us, our sense of place, and each other.

This episode explores the relevance of third spaces, the possibilities they offer, and the changes they are undergoing. We’ll hear stories from a New York City cab driver about the intimacy and autonomy of the third space inside a cab’s back seat. Stepping out of the cab and into the public square, we talk with an organizer and a participant in street theater groups who suggest how much we can gain by more fully inhabiting and expanding the boundaries of third spaces. Finally, a designer of future third spaces shares insights on how intelligent materials and augmented reality are reshaping these shared social environments unveiling the possibilities, the process, and the uncertainties that are ahead.

Guests

Jen Stein is a designer and researcher in speculative design and future-facing world building. Her projects relate to the future of mobility, the future of sustainable cities, the future of work, and augmented, virtual, and extended Realities.

Jaclyn Atkinson is a multidisciplinary creative artist and producer with a background in communication design and printmaking. Jac's work is focused on bringing the whimsy to a greater meaning, and impactful designed experiences. Jaclyn Atkinson, Jonah Levy, and Kate Sclavi cofounded Shadow Traffic, a non-profit arts organization that produces and curates participatory experiences within the interstitial areas of the urban landscape. Our productions look like intimate gatherings, explosive celebrations, and decentralized renegade events in underutilized corners of mapped constructs: spaces we can activate as a temporary autonomous zone available to the public for engagement.

Shadow Traffic

Mark Harder (aka Splinter) is a producer and engineer at Hit Factory in New York City. He has participated in the creation and execution of numerous street theater, artivism, and renegade events.

Rick Dumiak was a New York City cab driver during the 1970s and has a rich background of careers, mostly having to do with human connection.