Humanity Under Pressure

This is where the role of third places comes into view. Libraries, cultural centers, community centers, parks, and public squares have long been more than public amenities. In an increasingly digital society, they become places where human experience, public values, and social cohesion find a tangible home. They become anchors of humanity.

Humanity resides in the ability to meet one another in person. In body language, but also in silence. In conversations that are not filtered or ranked by algorithms. In unexpected encounters with people outside our own bubbles. Such experiences are difficult to digitize. And precisely because technology is becoming increasingly capable of simulating human interaction, the social value of genuine encounters continues to grow.

The question is no longer whether we need such places, but how intentionally we use them as spaces where people can continue practicing the art of living together. Places where conversations emerge about what AI means for everyday life, whom it serves, and which values are embedded within it. Places where different perspectives can coexist. This also requires rethinking how these spaces are designed: less focused on throughput, more focused on staying, connecting, and conversing. Less focused on control, more focused on openness.

Technology will continue to evolve. The challenge is not to stop that development, but to ensure that we do not quietly surrender control of our social infrastructure. That responsibility must be claimed – in communities, in public spaces, and in the everyday conversations that shape how we live together.

It is time for every self-respecting community to actively invest in third places. Because if they do not, who will? This is the public realm – a public responsibility.

Let us call on our leaders to take action: by prioritizing social infrastructure over physical infrastructure in urban development. By encouraging smart mergers between public institutions, making municipal, educational, and cultural services accessible and welcoming under one roof. By strengthening community centers rather than cutting them back. And by actively supporting community initiatives instead of allowing them to get bogged down in bureaucracy and endless funding cycles.

The more digital society becomes, the more urgent the places that connect us become.