Fix Public Spaces 3: 3 Ways to Bring More Life into Parks

Booze, invitations and insurance.

Summer at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver.

The decline of third spaces

There are fewer and fewer public third spaces — those places that are neither home nor work where we can get out and connect with other people around a shared interest or activity.

Public places like libraries, community centres and town squares, where we can just be around other people. Normally at no charge and with the freedom to linger as long as we want.

Private third spaces have picked up some of the slack. Cafes, shopping malls, gyms and so on. But these have a price of admission, and don’t have much flexibility to provide for different types of use.

The decline in public third spaces is linked to the rise in loneliness. With more people living alone, and with increased work from home, we have fewer chances to be around other people. Just being in the presence of others, and having the opportunity for even one or two minor interactions, has a big impact on our feeling of social connectedness.

Parks during and after the pandemic

Parks are important public spaces. But we are not using parks as effectively as we could as third spaces.

We used parks as third spaces extremely well during the pandemic. It was the one place that people could interact with others safely.

But we haven’t continued that practice.

We tend to go to our local neighbourhood parks for personal reasons. Walking the dog. Taking kids to a play structure or to participate in structured sports.

It’s not common for groups to meet in a park. There are exceptions. There is a tradition in many developing countries of using a city’s central park as the place where families and friends meet up on the weekend. As those people emigrate and move to places like Canada, they bring that tradition with them. Waterfront parks can also emerge as a meeting place for friends, as is the case in Vancouver.

Otherwise, parks in most neighbourhoods are underused as third spaces.

We have three suggestions for bringing more life into our parks, and seeing them better used as third spaces.

1. Allow booze in parks

A number of Canadian cities have been piloting the use of personal alcohol in parks — including Toronto, Vancouver, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary. Montreal and Quebec City have picnic laws, which allow alcohol consumption when eating.

The option to drink in parks is important for anyone living in a high-rise looking to spend time outdoors. Not everyone wants to sit on a restaurant patio to have a drink.

It’s also an excellent affordability measure for residents, making for a cheap afternoon or evening out.

Some opponents see booze in parks as a slippery slope. Public intoxication, partying, and so on. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of people drinking in parks are courteous and respectful. Will there be examples of people abusing the privilege? Of course, just like there are examples of public intoxication and partying in the streets outside of bars.

2. Invite local communities to use the park as a shared space

While parks are understood as public spaces, many people would not consider them as a public space that they can use for group events (other than team sports).

One exception is that some neighbourhoods put on an annual picnic in a park. But there really aren’t a lot of other good examples of using our local parks effectively as a third space for the community to mix.

Cities could reach out to their citizens, and let groups know that they are welcome to use the space in new ways. For bake sales. For neighbourhood picnics. For promoting local businesses. For community meet and greets. For dinner parties. For whatever thousands of local community members can dream up.

Perhaps there would need to be a simple process for applying to use space at the park for anything more elaborate than friends and families getting together.

Officials underestimate the power of the invitation. They know what is permitted, and how to navigate the application process, and assume everyone else does too.

Most of us instinctively assume, however, that there are rules governing the use of parks and that anything more than an informal gathering would be ruled out.

Cities could actively encourage communities to take the lead in bringing people back to parks.

City lawyers will undoubtedly recoil at the potential liability (and in all fairness, it’s their job to point out the risks), which brings us to our third point.

3. Provide insurance for community groups

There is a surprisingly large barrier that prevents groups from putting on more community events. Liability insurance.

Imagine a parent trying to organize a chalk drawing event for kids on a road that is closed to cars and pedestrianized during the summer. As soon as that parent approaches the authorities, the first question they ask is about event insurance. After that parent calls a few insurance companies and gets little more than blank stares, they give up. (True story.)

Finding event insurance is difficult and usually prohibitively expensive. Some cities provide a blanket insurance policy for established community groups, for activities such as operating outdoor hockey rinks. A community insurance program is the sort of solution that all cities should consider to get more groups using our parks.

Use parks to their potential

Cities around the world are losing their public third spaces. At the same time, our societies are suffering increasingly from social isolation. Let’s be a little creative and use our parks to help start fixing that.