The overriding purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how meeting places can be an asset for the smaller urban communities, which, due to the centralization of the last decades, have experienced a decline in the number of meeting places previously formed by the everyday life’s arenas. Through this thesis, a conceptual framework is developed as a useful tool to rethink meeting places, while at the same time exemplifying it in the case; Astrup. Astrup is a smaller urban community located between Hjørring and Sindal. The village does not have a grocer and the public bus only runs doing the weekdays, but on the other hand they have a strong and well-functioning associational life.
First part of the project concerns the accumulation of the thesis, among these a historical outline, which address to the issue of planning debates, and how the villages have developed from being deeply rooted in locally communities, for today, primarily being a society of settlements. This articulates the fundamental and contemporary problem of the thesis: How can local communities become attractive? Second part of unfold a theoretical discussion of the meeting place consisting of existing place- and mobility theory, comprising the ‘relational understanding of place’ and ‘the mobility turn’, which finally define the three meeting place typologies; ‘Point of contact’, ‘Space in between’ and ‘Gathering place’. In the last part of the project the meeting place typologies are incorporated, which identifies relevant meeting places through contextual analysis and public participation. These are presented as interventions in Astrup, as well as through a ‘Meeting place manual’ which can be used for the development of meeting places in similar communities.
The conclusion of the thesis is that meeting places opens the opportunity for an ongoing maintenance of the cohesion in the smaller urban communities, which experience both a decline in population and facilities. Simultaneous it should be possible for the citizens themselves to help identifying and concentrate point in the village that are more likely to result in meetings; especially the informal and unintended meetings.