Third Place Summit: international thinkers bring together culture, community, and space

On Monday, January 19, 2026, the Third Place Summit will take place at the New Luxor Theater in Rotterdam. A full day in which cultural and social organizations will explore how they themselves can transition into a true third place: a space beyond home and work that invites people to come, stay, and grow.

The Third Place Summit is an initiative of Luxor Theater Rotterdam, organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Rotterdam and the consulting and design firm includi. With world-class international speakers such as Karen Christensen (journalist and author; co-author of the revised edition of The Great Good Place), Joe Pine (internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor; co-author of The Experience Economy and the new The Transformation Economy), and Toni L. Griffin (Professor in Practice of Urban Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design and faculty affiliate at the Bloomberg Center on Cities), and moderated by host Ernest van der Kwast, the event offers both visionary perspectives and practical tools for everyone working on places with social impact.

Come, Stay, Grow – new insights for a new era

The summit follows the triptych Come, Stay, Grow — the pillars of every third place. These are spaces that invite people to come, that are so pleasant and welcoming that visitors want to stay, and that offer ample opportunities to grow. This triptych also forms the foundation of the book of the same name by includi, in which architect Aat Vos and urban anthropologist Amy Goedhart introduce the Third Place Fundamentals model. Based on years of research and more than one hundred social theories, this model reveals layer by layer what it takes to create and sustain places of connection. During the summit, attendees will get a first look at this extensive model and at the ways third places can be designed as environments where people genuinely want to come, stay, and grow.

[Read more in the downloadable presskit]