UBC099 - The Road Map to being Human
There's something I think about a lot. It's a question I keep returning to in my work with communities, in conversations about revitalising town centres, and in nearly every project I touch:
What does it mean to feel human in 2025?
The answer, I've become convinced, lies in our physical spaces. Not just any spaces, but what sociologists call "third spaces" those vital environments that are neither home nor work, where community actually happens.
This isn't abstract theory for me. I've watched how run crews like Run Dem Crew transform from fitness groups into powerful social anchors. I've seen how neighbourhood chess clubs become lifelines of connection. I've documented how listening bars create moments of collective appreciation that streaming platforms never could.
As
brilliantly showed in his article "2025: The Year of 'Soft Clubbing'," we're witnessing a profound shift in how people seek connection not through traditional nightlife, but through something more nuanced, more intentional.Why We Need Third Spaces Now
Let's be honest: constant connectivity has created fatigue, not belonging.
When I walk through city centres, I see people physically present but mentally elsewhere. Heads down, thumbs scrolling, technically surrounded by others but fundamentally alone. Our digital lives have expanded exponentially while our physical interactions have contracted.
The recent episode of "Hip Replacement" podcast with
and chatting with guest Nicolás Cevallos about the rise of anonymous posts and "fourth spaces" summarised what I've been feeling and inspired me to write this - we're experiencing a crisis of embodiment. Of being physically present in a world designed increasingly for digital engagement.People crave friction, texture and surprise - precisely the elements that algorithms systematically remove in their quest for optimisation. We hunger for the beautiful accidents that happen when humans occupy space together without an agenda or a timeline.
This isn't nostalgia. It's not technophobia. It's recognition that certain aspects of humanity require physical proximity, shared experience, real-time response.
Community Over Transaction
In his insightful piece on brands and community, Russell highlights something crucial: "For community to thrive, the objective needs to be community. Any other objective will taint efforts to build community and will ultimately lead to failure or cynicism."
This gets to the heart of what's missing in many of our digital interactions. When metrics drive engagement whether it's a brand seeking conversions or a platform optimising for time spent the human element becomes secondary. We feel it intuitively. The difference between being valued and being measured.
Run Dem Crew exemplifies what happens when community becomes the genuine objective. As Russell notes, "In the early days, Nike allowed space for this community to grow without any specific commercial desire or metrics. For those of us who were involved in that stage, we all learned something about ourselves, made lifelong friends and had a meaningful time."
This is what third spaces can provide when they're allowed to evolve organically: connection without an agenda. Belonging without a transaction. Meaning beyond metrics.
The Social Fluency Crisis
What strikes me most in our brand and community projects is how many younger people lack what I call "social fluency" the basic skills of face-to-face interaction that previous generations absorbed naturally.
Making eye contact during conversation. Reading body language. Connecting, vibing and even networking or even sharing their passion for the thing we were all there to celebrate. Now I know this can be a challenge, and I've had to hurdle some of these myself with my differences and I see it in others, avoiding it and doubling down on my differences - which is why I moderate coffee and beers in certain situations - the trick is to have strategies, and learn to self advocate or, as I do, have some people near me to keep me on track. Navigating the subtle dance of group dynamics without a screen mediating the experience. These aren't innate abilities; they're learned skills that develop through practice in physical spaces.
Projects like Run Dem Crew demonstrate this beautifully. What began as a running collective evolved into something far more significant: a space where mentorship happens naturally, where social skills develop through shared experience, where community forms around common purpose rather than common consumption.
The weekly runs become frameworks for something deeper learning to pace yourself alongside others, encouraging someone struggling, celebrating collective achievement. These aren't just fitness benefits; they're humanity benefits.
Beyond Digital Detox
When I talk about the importance of physical spaces, I'm often misinterpreted as advocating for "digital detox." That misses the point entirely.
We don't need temporary abstinence from technology. We need sustainable integration of the digital and physical in ways that enhance rather than diminish our humanity.
This is what makes Yusuf’s concept of "soft clubbing" so compelling. It acknowledges our hybrid existence rather than denying it. It recognises that curated sonic experiences still matter profoundly, but perhaps not exclusively at 2 AM in traditional nightlife venues.
Seeing this unfold in real time, Bakery Sessions from The French Bastards Bakery and our friends at News & Coffee feature DJ sets in their kiosks around Europe. These aren't attempts to escape technology, they're efforts to recontextualise it within meaningful physical environments and connections.
Town Centres as Human Habitats
When I chat to people about town centre/main street/high street revitalisation, I emphasise that we're not just planning commercial spaces but human habitats. Areas designed not merely for consumption but for connection. I've written loads about this in UBA027 - Thinking Global, Acting Local - Cultivating Meaningful Connections in a Globalised World.
The most successful projects I've been involved with prioritise what I call "presence infrastructures" physical elements that naturally encourage lingering, conversation, and unplanned interaction:
Public seating arranged to face each other rather than a view
Weather-protected outdoor spaces that can be used year-round
Free, accessible venues for community-led activities
Performance spaces that don't require commercial justification
Multi-generational play areas that invite interaction across age groups
These aren't expensive interventions, and I know easier said than done when it comes to sign off. They don't require cutting-edge technology. But they fundamentally shift how people experience public space from transit zones to dwelling places.
The Brand and Community Partnership
A question I'm constantly asked is whether brands should be involved in creating third spaces, or if this should be purely community-driven.
My answer is pragmatic rather than ideological: we need both.
Communities already create beautiful third spaces with limited resources. Their power comes from organic relationships rather than strategy decks. From local knowledge rather than market research.
But brands have capital, scale and reach. Many own physical properties that could transform into genuine third spaces. The challenge is finding models where brands can support without hijacking, fund without controlling.
As Russell points out, brands often fall into predictable traps: "When brands reduce community to engagement numbers, follower counts or other quantifiable measures, they miss the core purpose of community - a deep, relational bond based on shared values and mutual respect."
I've seen this work when brands adopt what I call "presence without agenda" showing up consistently in communities before proposing solutions. Being useful, not just visible. Measuring success not in immediate ROI but in relationship depth over time.
The most successful brand-community partnerships I've witnessed share three characteristics:
They maintain community leadership rather than transferring it to brand representatives
They focus on capacity building rather than brand building
They commit to long-term support rather than seasonal activations, now I know this is hard for brands especially when they work season to season and initiative to initiative and even leadership change to leadership change
Fostering Physical Interaction Skills
One aspect that particularly concerns me is how we rebuild the skills of physical interaction that have atrophied during our digital acceleration.
This isn't just about etiquette or social graces. It's about fundamental capacities for human connection: sustained attention, presence, response to non-verbal cues, comfort with silence, tolerance for difference in close proximity. It's going to get increasingly important with Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Social Quotient (SQ), as differentiators with AI becoming more mainstream.
On a side note, with AI and automation becoming more everyday, what do we do as a society that gives us purpose and joy?
The projects I find most hopeful are those creating structured opportunities to practise these skills:
Community kitchens where cooking and eating together become frameworks for conversation
Repair cafés where knowledge transfers through demonstration rather than YouTube tutorials
Intergenerational skill-sharing where technology expertise flows upstream while craft knowledge flows downstream
These spaces provide low-stakes environments to rebuild physical interaction muscles without explicitly framing themselves as remedial. The activity provides the structure; the human connection happens alongside it.
The Future Is Physical
I believe the next frontier in human experience isn't more immersive virtual reality or faster digital connections. It's the thoughtful reintegration of our digital and physical lives in environments designed for human flourishing.
This isn't about rejecting technology. It's about recalibrating its role in our lives. Using it to enhance physical experiences rather than replacing them.
The spaces where we'll rediscover our humanity will likely be modest. Imperfect. Limited in scope. A barbershop where phones stay in pockets. A community garden where knowledge transfers through touch and demonstration. A listening room where strangers appreciate music in collective silence.
Each represents a small but vital reclamation of what makes us human. Our need for texture, surprise, unplanned encounters. For conversations that can wander rather than optimise for engagement.
This is the road map back to ourselves. Back to being human, together, in physical space building something real.
Written By Mark
