Melanie Wilde (centre) was inspired by a research trip to Mexico and her years of work in public health. Photo: Cass Atkinson.
If you work from home, you’ve certainly used a break between Zoom meetings for a dash down the street to the nearest cafe for a sneaky coffee- and it was possibly your only real interaction with a human.
“That does not create a sense of meaning and belonging,” according to Foundation for Social Health CEO Melanie Wilde.
She has founded Third Spaces Network, an initiative that aims to kick-start community building by bringing together different institutions and businesses.
Coined in 1989 by American sociologist Ray Oldenburg, the term ‘third place’ refers to locations where people can socialise, separate from their homes (the first place) and workplaces (the second place).
Third places need to be free (or low-cost) to access, families need to be welcome, and the connection must be developed as a “deliberate part” of their design.
According to Ms Wilde, they’re missing from the bush capital – and it’s leaving us increasingly isolated.
“One in four people in this city is experiencing regular loneliness, chronic loneliness.
“These are things which we don’t address through crisis services. We address them through connecting with each other.”
The Third Spaces Network has received a share of $1.6 million in funding, awarded through the Canberra Foundations Collaborative.
It was the fifth round of grants from the partnership between the Snow Foundation, Hands Across Canberra (HAC) and the John James Foundation.
“The Canberra Foundations Collaborative has grown from a COVID response into one of the region’s most significant philanthropic partnerships, helping local organisations access funding, build capacity and strengthen community connections,” says Hands Across Canberra CEO Genevieve Jacobs.
The funding covers the first year of its pilot program.
It’s a move that Ms Wilde says will “turbocharge” their efforts and allow them to bring on a coordinator for the participating third spaces, which are set to include not just charities but also innovative “cafes, pubs and clubs” looking to support their communities.
“It provides an opportunity for people in Canberra to go to one space and see all the organisations that are offering spaces where you can be confident that there’s going to be deliberate thought about you feeling welcome,” she outlines.
“The Three Space Network is asking the question, ‘What would that start to look like if we plugged more and more business into it?’”
Ms Wilde says that a lack of third places is leaving society “atomised”.
Last year, a University of Canberra study found that nearly 19 per cent of respondents aged 30 to 49 said they often or always feel lonely, well above the survey average of 12.4 per cent.
While the shift towards working from home can drastically cut our interactions, it’s not the only factor pushing us apart.
Ms Wilde points to other factors – declining rates of involvement in things like sporting clubs and churches, a rising cost of living and an increase in the number of people who live alone – as keeping people isolated.
“To me, these things are deeply connected in ways that the government have not addressed or remotely recognised.”
She believes that building third places is a key plank in early intervention against mental health struggles.
“I call the mental health crisis a disconnection crisis, fundamentally.”
The Third Spaces Network is set to formally launch later this year.
“[Our goal] is now about really generating further momentum around what organisations are doing.
“That’s by bringing them together to share their knowledge, to be supported, to capture the outcomes that they’re achieving and – my hope is – to grow a Canberra-wide and then a national movement.”
She says that while everyone’s third place is unique to them, it plays a vital role in mental well-being and community building.
“We are essentially, endlessly focused on the crisis end.
“We are not investing in the upstream interventions that keep people well.”
You can find out more about the Third Spaces Network by visiting the Foundation for Social Health.
