You may have heard of third places before, but in case it’s new to you, they’re essentially community spaces where you can chill & socialize…Like here, I suppose! But typically they refer to in-person community spaces.
Does your area of the world still have a number of these, or are they in the decline? Do you know if your in-person communities are trying to establish or renovate theirs to help people connect or reconnect with one another?
Here, in terms of free spaces, it’s the city parks. I see churches having service there, dads playing soccer (football) in leagues, I sometimes make the Pokemon go raid hour and there is always a friendly group for that. You can rent the shelters or the building (shelters always, building only when the city isn’t using it) and it’s possible to get ok for parties with alcohol because it’s the city not the county. Mostly nobody does unless it’s a wedding or big corporate thing. There’s a dog park.
At the small county run park in my neighborhood (2k from home vs. about 6k for the big park) there is a community garden and a big complex of baseball fields and a playground and a very well utilized basketball court.
So both are technically within walking distance but big park barely - there are, shockingly given the state of transit where I live - 3 different buses that go from near my house to the big park, so even with the ridiculously reduced service it would be possible but at $4.50 for day pass I generally drive or walk, depending on whether I’m looking for a workout or just going to that raid hour.