Ava Ruscillo
Once Upon a Place: Connecting the Disappearance of Third Places to the Loneliness Epidemic
Biography
Ava is a 2025 graduate of the Professional Communication (BA Hons.) program at Toronto Metropolitan University, with a minor in Communication Design. During her time as an undergraduate, she had the privilege of working with various student groups and organizations on campus, including the Society of The Creative School (SCS), the Red Bull Gaming Hub, the Professional Communication Course Union (PCCU), and publications like HerCampus TMU. These experiences allowed her to hone her skills in strategic communication, media relations, graphic design, and content creation while also nurturing her passion for community building and teamwork.
A firm believer in the power of bold storytelling to drive change and connect people, Ava’s capstone project aims to unite individuals from across her beloved neighbourhood of Scarborough and Toronto to rally together and advocate for the places they cherish most. She hopes to one day pursue a career in digital marketing and the tech space and is eager to build meaningful connections within the industry. Combining her unique, aesthetically distinct design style with her love of music, movies, gaming, live events, and pop culture, she strives to create compelling, visually engaging content that resonates and inspires.
Details of Project
A “third place” is a descriptive term and theory coined by renowned American urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg. In his critically acclaimed book The Great Good Place (1999), Oldenburg shares anecdotes from these unique “human habitats”, and explains to readers the ways in which these unassuming spaces actually play a vital role in contributing to the prosperity of communities, as well as the overall mental-health and well being of the individuals that flock to these communication hubs. Said third places, like parks, libraries, cafes, and community centers, have long played a pivotal role in fostering key social connections and building community amongst both individuals and groups of people.
However, the rapid disappearance of these once prominent spaces is beginning to be seen as a major contributing factor to the loneliness epidemic. As third places diminish, individuals suffer, and lose neutral and informal gathering spaces that promote a culture of connection and well-being. This decline is further aggravated by a variety of instances, including economic pressure, changes in urban design, and the rise of primarily digital spaces.
This research aims to examine the ways in which the disappearance of third places is contributing to the growing loneliness epidemic, drawing on sources that explore the social, spatial, and health/physiological impact of these once prevalent spaces, as well as offering possible solutions for reenvisioning their overall role in our contemporary society.