ThrdPlace started simply as a discussion – a beer-with-breakfast gathering of friends. As it so happens we are a mixed-bag of professional urbanists and armchair urbanophiles. But as friends do, we shared our (mis)adventures here in Los Angeles. It was through our discussions that we identified a simple, shared problem: an inability for community members to take initiative to build their own communities.

We continue to witness this problem (this phenomena!) in each and every community we visit around the world. Individuals display interest, ability and activity that can affect positive change within their community; nevertheless, there is no mechanism that can capture and organize their energy. In essence, the vast majority of their energy falls by the road-side…wasted. If only to stoke some small innovation, we evolved our discussion to design thrdPlace – a web and mobile application that enables everyone to take action that builds their community.