13 Comments
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Philip Teale's avatar

Really enjoyed the topic and examples you mentioned, Patrick! HK sounds like such a fascinating petri dish for new communities. Would be interesting to do a comparative study between HK vs London vs New York vs other big cities!

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Patrick Kho's avatar

Thanks Philip! Honestly every city can be interesting if you just know where to look hahah there's so much discourse about hk being "dead" but we still find a way to write somewhat interesting things!

I think all the people on strategy internet people would love that article

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Billy Cooney's avatar

Thank you for clarifying that third places are more social than they are physical. A park or bar in itself does not constitute a third place without a community; it becomes a third place by nature of the social environment that people make.

The one critique of these social clubs that I'm still wrestling with is that by being member-based, they're (monetarily) exclusive. That said, any third place community is "exclusive" or at least curated by nature of their location (a bar) or activity (tai chi).

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Patrick Kho's avatar

Hey Billy thanks for the comment and great point

Tbh I’m all for third spaces having exclusivity. There needs to be some form of shared identity for the community to stick. I think a better question might be whether or not the thing you’re excluding people on actually builds a community (ie I think everyone paying a membership fee is not as great/sticky a way to form community as, say, everyone being creative or doing the same sport or having the same religion)

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Kezia's avatar

I live in HK and had no idea about this. Very cool collectives.

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Patrick Kho's avatar

You should come by a critical mass event!

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Chloé's avatar

Such an interesting pov! I didn't realise these communities could work as third spaces. Love the idea of "traveling third spaces". (Hi from France)

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Patrick Kho's avatar

Hello to you in France Chloe! Glad the piece resonated with you

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ivana's avatar

So lovely to be part of this extended conversation Patrick, thank you for featuring us and your words on CM as a community member yourself :)

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Patrick Kho's avatar

Oh shush super super duper grateful for you Ivana

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Kwasi Boateng's avatar

Great piece! I like the approach the community organizers are taking. It flips the idea of a third space on its head by starting with community first

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Tim Berdot's avatar

WTF...who cares?

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Kezia's avatar

Clearly you did enough to write a comment.

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