The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community

We will discuss a classic urbanist book about why we need “third places” outside of work and home, for mental health reasons and the good of communities. These places, once so common in American cities, were disappearing when this book was published in 1989. They’ve continued to dwindle in number since.

Ray Oldenburg was a sociology professor at the University of West Florida. He died in 2002.

In our discussion, we will discuss what the loss of third places means to neighborhoods, Urban Atlanta’s cities and American society.