ABSTRACT
The public realm offers a rich environment for learning, provides needed respites and refreshments, operates as center of communication, allows for the "practice" of politics, is the stage for the enactment of social arrangements and social conflict, and assists in the creation of cosmopolitans. The high sociability level of the third place links such establishments to another posited use of the public realm—as a center of communication, especially communication between and among diverse individuals and groups. If Americans generally find it difficult to appreciate the political value of third places, it is partly because of the great freedom of association that Americans enjoy. The last use reminds people that the fact that the public realm is such an effective setting for visualizing current arrangements also makes it an effective setting for the enactment of change or proposed change, for the enactment of social conflict.
