Can Metro Detroit Suburbs be Third Place Hubs?

For over 70 years when cheap land, cheap taxation and freeway expansions create not only new industrial zones, automation alleys but also shopping malls, strip malls and cookie cutter bedroom neighborhoods. Most Detroit Suburbs become cities and some of those modern suburbs like Sterling Heights to Livonia become instant 'First Place hubs" where suburban neighborhoods developed to be car-driven to shopping area and back. With a 'Second Place Hub' where your drive your car from your home to the industrial zone and back. But most suburbs don't have a historical and a develop 'Main Street' modernized downtown where folks can walk, socialized and even ride a bike and book events.



Here is source of the Third Place Hubs.

https://www.city-journal.org/develop...-social-venues

Link repair:
Cherishing “Third Places” In Unhappy Times

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Danny

Here is source of the Third Place Hubs.

---

Either that or people will stop commuting and retail shopping, and avoid public spaces entirely, purchase everything online, receive everything via drones, etc. If mass murders continue to grow?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimaz

Link repair:
Cherishing “Third Places” In Unhappy Times

---

What a depressing article,I got a flat tire I think it was because of the corona virus.

We have all kinds of places here,they are called - wait for it - social clubs people go there,hang out and socialize.

Life is out there,one just needs to go out and live it,you cannot sit at home and order it on Amazon and if people are still staying home living in fear,they not really living anyways.

Maybe it is different up there,here every where you go is packed with people out and about.

Everybody is different though,some like crowds,some do not,some are home bodies while others are on the go all of the time.

Listening to all of these experts you would think half of the country would have committed suicide by now.

98% of the people I know do not even follow politics until election time and provably could not even name one city council member,most just live their life and do not pay much mind to anybody else.

As for the majority of kids,then I would agree,most parents just hand them a cell phone or laptop so they do not have to be bothered with them all day.

They are not outside playing,it’s when that generation comes of age things will get interesting.

I would also agree that the media loves to put out pure negativity 24/7 telling people if they do not do this or that they will die.

They had to throttle the little Swedish girl because it was actually traumatizing the other youngsters with nightmares and anxiety because she was saying that we are all going to die tomorrow if we do not fix thing’s,you cannot say stuff like that to 6 year olds.

The way corona was reported was doing more damage then corona itself and it is still being used as a catch all excuse.

Telling 350 million people if they left the house they will die,there was a lot of people seriously freaked out over that,even here where we did not have house arrest for an extended time,you still see people driving around with masks on.

Geez! Everyone is now a victim.

There are definitely some changes due to the pandemic. At the outdoor tennis club I play they switched to online booking during the pandemic so you go play your match and then leave. Many people like it, knowing there's a court waiting for them. We used to just hang out late afternoon, early evening and go hit with whoever was on the courts. After we would sit on the porch, talk and even have a beer on Fridays. It was a great way to meet people. Of course they still have organized events but it's not the same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimaz

Link repair:
Cherishing “Third Places” In Unhappy Times

---

Paris, with all its outdoor cafes, has weather more suited to sitting outside in cafes and fewer flies than the upper midwest. I've seen attempts to have outdoor cafes in the most hideous of locations next to parking lots or fast moving traffic. Rare are the spots where this works in the US.

I do, however, have a nearby small upscale shopping center nearby that does a good job of getting people outside but away from traffic and cars. On the right hand of this photo, the BarTaco restaurant has a pleasant outdoor area well lit and with overhead protection from rain or a baking sun. It is well populated except in winter.

One section of the shopping center has a few small restaurants each with their own seating but there are tables set up outside with umbrellas not necessarily for food purchasers. No nearby cars are visible.

That's about as much as can be done in the Midwest to get people eating outside but, from my experience, it is still couples or families and not where people meet other people. One exception is one the larger restaurants in this shopping center, The Hollander, which is sort of a Disney version of the Cadieux Cafe with a variety of beers and a lowland theme. The Hollander has expansive and successful outdoor seating, garage doors that roll up in one of its dining rooms and sort of a sports bar room. I sometimes go there to watch soccer games and that is the only place I generally wind up talking to strangers.

My long winded point is that something approaching a Parisian cafe atmosphere can be created in the Midwest but climate, cars and our interpersonal culture interfere. It combines a small outdoor shopping venue away from traffic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Richard

What a depressing article...

---

tldr

It should be noted that this article was written in August of 2020, arguably in thick of the "beginning" of COVID when there were still lot of unknowns and unsettling worries about what was in store for day to day life in the future.

Oladub... you did mention a few interesting items...

In western Europe... such as Paris, and other northern parts of France, and even the places I visited in Germany... they have few mosquitoes and few flies. Having a screen on your window is almost unheard of. When I visited my relatives in Germany, no screens, and the windows are open at night and in the day time... milder less humid weather generally.

I have noticed several restaurants near me in a Detroit inner ring suburb that have outdoor tables and chairs. Only used in warmer weather months, but they can be used about 1/2 of the year. These spots never had outdoor seating before, but now they do. I prefer al fresco, and I'm sure there are still a lot of folks like me who are still avoiding crowded confined spaces because of the lingering memory of Covid. But this is what has always been the case in Europe [outdoor seating in the warmer months].

Europe has lots of sidewalk cafes because they have small buildings and need space.

I find it funny when my friend from the UK tells people he owns 17 factory buildings,they get impressed because he omits the part where they are only 15’ wide and 25’ deep.

I left the northern Minnesota because it was depressing in the winter cloudy grey all the time,not so much the cold.

Florida has an abundance of outside seating but when it is a 100 degrees out most everybody being transplants,go inside with the air conditioning.

We can smoke outside dining also.

It is interesting the mention of the timeframe of the article and the circumstances that surrounded it,but most have moved on to other fish to fry and it is a distant memory so here anyways it really has little lingering impact outside of a catch all excuse.

Really the biggest noticeable impact is with banks,during COVID,as a business you had to make an appointment for deposits,or the bank was open for 1 hour,that’s all you had.

I am doing a job where there are 4 national banks on the corners of the intersection,there are a couple of employees cars in the parking lot and I will see at best 6 cars pull up all day.

Its like the bank tellers have become the Maytag repair man.

Employers are starting to require employees return to work,but here a majority of government services are online,of course the enforcement side of things is still up close and personal.

Life is what you make of it.

Take a look at this Since Macomb TWP is currently a fast developing ex-urb does it look at the a third place area or a first place area?

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6463.../data=!3m1!1e3

Somethings just don't end. That was never something I did... even living here where the virus had a very deadly pathogenic impact at points.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Richard

...even here where we did not have house arrest for an extended time, you still see people driving around with masks on.

---

Outdoor cafes etc. are getting rarer here as we've ceded power and favor to lawlessness. Common decency jettisoned in service of the almighty SELF.

You've nearly bust-out level, affirmed shop-lifting mobs; folks nearly knocking you down on sidewalks/ malls in some settings. Who enjoys an outdoor meal w/ folks dropping pants and defecating or hassling you for money, or personal items. This is common in some of our larger cities with excellent weather.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oladub

Paris, with all its outdoor cafes, has weather more suited to sitting outside in cafes and fewer flies than the upper midwest. I've seen attempts to have outdoor cafes in the most hideous of locations next to parking lots or fast moving traffic. Rare are the spots where this works in the US.

---