• Home
• Projects
• Current Projects
• Reconceptualizing third places: Countering social isolation in lives without workplaces

Reconceptualizing third places: Countering social isolation in lives without workplaces

Project Description:

Social isolation is a key policy issue at local to global levels given its increasing prevalence in urban environments combined with evidence that it is connected to a range of negative implications related to civic participation, mental and physical health, and social cohesion. Recent research has demonstrated enhanced risk of social isolation associated with intersecting social markers of difference, including age and employment status. A shared condition of persons who are retired, precarious workers, and persons experiencing unemployment is the absence of a stable, permanent workplace in their lives.

Third places - physical and virtual places outside of home and work that provide opportunities for social connectedness - have been proposed to be a key means to combat social isolation within contemporary urban contexts; however, understandings of third places are often narrowly based on the lives of middle class, employed citizens. The limited research to date suggests that the types of third places desired and the social needs met through such places differ significantly within lives absent of stable workplaces. While this body of research has begun to demonstrate the expanded significance and types of third places in the lives of people who lack stable workplaces, few studies have been conducted in North America and little is known about how members of such groups contribute to the production of such places or the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion within third places.

This critically-located ethnographic study aims to increase understanding of the significance, characteristics and contributions of third places within lives absent of stable workplaces, and identify facilitators and constraints on engagement in third places. Various forms of qualitative data generation will be conducted with participants located in London, Ontario and Pasadena, California who self-identify as not having stable workplaces, including a sub-group who identify as retired and a sub-group who identify as experiencing unemployment or precarious work. In addition, in-depth participant observation will occur within frequently identified third places. 

Visual, spatial and textual data will be inductively and theoretically analyzed within and across sites to generate enhanced understanding regarding the contributions of third places in the lives of persons without stable workplaces, as well as provide information on the characteristics of third places that align with the social needs and life conditions of persons experiencing unemployment, precarious work and/or retirement. It is hoped this information can inform efforts by community organizations, municipalities, health care workers, advocacy groups and others to design and enact inclusive third places as a means to counter rising rates of social isolation.

Other Related Resources:

Aldrich, R., Laliberte Rudman, D., Fernandes, K., Nguyen, G., & Larkin, S. (2023). (Re)making ‘Third Places’ in precarious times: Conceptual, empirical, and practical opportunities for occupational science. Journal of Occupational Science, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2023.2234382 

Laliberte Rudman, D. & Aldrich, R. (2023). Evidence brief – Social isolation, third places and precarious employment circumstances: A scoping review. To be posted on SSHRC website. https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/society-societe/community-communite/ifca-iac/evidence_briefs-donnees_probantes/index-eng.aspx 

Laliberte Rudman, D., Aldrich, R., Fernades, K., Akrofi, J., Larkin, J., Nguyen, G. & Elias-Moran, R. (2022, November). Final report to SSHRC - Social isolation, third places, and precarious employment circumstances: A scoping review. Occupational Therapy Publications. 54. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/otpub/54.