Where Community Happens
Home is the first place. Work is the second. The third place is everything in between - the community halls, studios, parks, and slow spaces where belonging actually happens. These are places where friendships form without agenda, ideas spark without pressure, and life becomes genuinely richer.
Modern life has quietly stripped away much of this human infrastructure, leaving many of us craving something we can't quite name: real connection, meaning, calm, and a community that truly shows up for each other.
Most of what makes a community worth living in doesn't show up on a balance sheet.
Permaculture thinkers describe eight forms of capital - the different ways wealth flows through a healthy community. Our modern economy is excellent at growing two of them (financial and material). It is terrible at the rest. The Third Place exists to help grow the other six:
🤝 Social capital - relationships, trust, and the ability to ask for help and give it back.
🌱 Living capital - the natural world woven into community life: gardens, shared land, the living things we tend together.
💡 Intellectual capital - the ideas and knowledge that circulate when curious people gather.
🛠️ Experiential capital - wisdom you can only earn by doing. Organising something, learning a craft, trying something that might not work.
🎵 Cultural capital - the only form that can't be owned by individuals. Shared rituals, celebrations, art, and stories that make a place feel like here rather than anywhere.
✨ Spiritual capital - the sense of meaning and belonging that comes from being part of something larger than yourself.
The activities on this board are driven by the people who gather here - events/activities by the community, for the community. Workshops, book clubs, nature walks, music retreats, and things we haven't even imagined yet.
Connection over performance. This is not a space for networking or self-promotion. It is a space for showing up as a real person.
Belonging for everyone. The door is open regardless of age, background, ability, or belief. What matters is a genuine interest in community wellbeing.
Holistic wellbeing. We support the whole person - physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Activities here should nourish, not deplete.
Community-led. The best ideas come from the people in this community. We trust that and welcome it.
No unsolicited promotion. This space is not a marketplace. We are here to support community, not to sell to it.
Act in good faith. Put forward ideas and engage with others honestly and generously.
The Third Place is a not-for-profit experiment in community-led belonging, built by the Wellington team behind hum.community. Huge thanks to the many supporters whose grants and volunteer time have helped us. We always want this service to be free so are reliant on grants / donations, if you would like to support us please let us know.
The third place is waiting to be built - together.