As their cartography shows, third places continue to expand to the four corners of France at a frantic pace. But what is the role of these protean sites placed at the crossroads of paths and professions? We visited the latest in Paris, Césure, installed on the former Sorbonne Nouvelle campus.

These places of a new kind are called Ground Control (near Gare de Lyon), Cité Fertile (in Pantin), Hasard Ludique (in the 18^rd), or Vive les Groues! (in Nanterre). In Paris as on the outskirts, in the whole of France, in the countryside or in town, these addresses have in common to escape the frame. Neither squat nor wasteland… Simultaneously artists' residence, coworking space, fablab, locavore canteen, positive impact incubator… They challenge us to apprehend the era from a new angle.

Caesure: the third place for the transmission of knowledge and know-how

To understand how it works, there's nothing like a trip to Paris, to one of these most recent sites, in the fifth arrondissement, on the edge of the Jardin des Plantes. On the old campus of Sorbonne Nouvelle, and its 25 m000 of classrooms and amphitheaters the day before school, Césure took off on the eve of summer, successfully chaining the two key events of the season, the Nuit Blanche and the Fête de la Musique. Thanks to a program of concerts, workshops, film screenings and other immersive cultural experiences, the public was there. Born under good hospices, this new third place ticks all the boxes of this UFO concept that appeared around the 2s in the United States.

The third place is different from the workplace and the home, and opposes the place of consumption. It is also defined as a space for neutral socialization allowing people to meet people. In France, the movement took root around ten years ago, mainly thanks to the development of digital technology and shared workspaces. Its role, since then, has continued to evolve...

As can be seen at Césure which, barely launched, already performs all its functions: the site mixes uses and audiences (students, militant associations, social and solidarity economy companies, artists, craftsmen and ordinary neighbours), offers coworking at a good price (the old classrooms, rented at €20 per m2, are occupied by 400 hand-picked occupants), makes relaxation areas available to everyone in the neighborhood (canteen, Emmaus thrift store, coffee machines, tables on the terrace, vast exhibition space)… And, as it should be, under the cobblestones of the third place: a militant scope. Césure invests in the " transmission of knowledge and know-how”. For this hybrid place the challenge is not only to create and entertain, but also to thwart, the time of its presence, the pressure of "gentrification and to instil the possibility of a new social bond.

“Our role is to facilitate the functioning of common intelligence”

In a few years, the keys will have to be handed over, since the site, led mainly by Plateau Urbain, in partnership with Yes We Camp, two third-place operators, with which the solidarity conciergerie Aurore has joined, is ultimately destined to regain its primary university vocation. The time for Césure to set up a "joint project" with a lot of monthly meetings between all the occupants... Thus, in July, the management of the heat wave in the premises of the site without air conditioning, or even the adoption of a cat by the collective was debated.

It will also be a question of the last details of the organization of the inauguration weekend, at the beginning of September, open to the public. " We impose nothing, explains Victor Houillon, representative of Plateau Urbain. Our role is to facilitate the operation of common intelligence, between the occupants, around the same values. And to bring out ideas, between architects, artists, designers, town planners, craftsmen, nothing beats informal meetings, at the bar or on the terrace! ". Here lies the challenge, and even the strength, of third places: the hybridization of profiles, professions, sectors and even generations! Where elsewhere we still work in silos, the third place celebrates interdisciplinarity.

According to this desire, third places have multiplied throughout France, and particularly since the pandemic. A public interest group dedicated to their observation and support, France Tiers-Lieux counts around 3500 sites, a figure that has grown by more than 20% since the previous census in 2021. More than a marginal movement, a social phenomenon? " On the issues of the ecological transition, and even the food transition, third places have a role of innovation at the local level and very often allow concrete action to be taken without waiting for the major plans of the public authorities. », defends Yolaine Proult, general delegate of France Tiers-Lieux, happy to be able to cite several examples from the four corners of France, such as in Drôme where the third place of the Fab Unit has redesigned the furniture production chain around the reuse of plastic waste.