Week 1: The eight rules

Oldenburg's eight characteristics of a third place, and the argument that a life needs three settings rather than two.

22 February 2027

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There is a pub near the campus where, at about half past four on a Tuesday, the same four people are at the same end of the bar. None of them arranged it. Two of them do not know each other’s surnames. If one of them stopped coming, the others would notice within a week and would probably not do anything about it.

That room is the subject of this course, and the lecture starts there rather than with a definition, because the definition is easier to argue with once you have a specific floor under it.

Oldenburg’s eight characteristics come next: neutral ground, a leveller, talk as the main activity, accessible and accommodating, the regulars, a low profile, a playful mood, a home away from home. We take them one at a time and ask, of each, whether it is doing real work or whether it is a description of the kind of place Oldenburg happened to like.

By the end you should be able to hold a room against all eight and say which ones it fails. That is the skill the whole semester is built on, and Thursday is the first time you use it.