Conviviality Invited: Third Places as Hybrid Digital Participatory Spaces in Local Governance

This contribution theorizes some French tiers lieux (third places) as hybrid participatory spaces located at the boundary between convivial autonomy and institutionalized digital participation. This contribution is therefore not concerned with third places that have emerged from a desire to share and disseminate new technologies (mostly digital) and are rapidly evolving into entrepreneurial structures, where conviviality and shared values remain but where commercial operations and profit-seeking are taking hold. These third places, which can be likened to Californian-style businesses, are not included in our study. Building on Ivan Illich’s concept of conviviality (1973) and Gaventa’s framework of invited spaces, our study interrogates the democratic ambivalence of third places as they become progressively embedded in local participatory governance arrangements. Originally emerging as informal and self-organized spaces fostering horizontal sociability and civic expression, third places are increasingly recognized, funded and integrated by local authorities. Drawing on on a longitudinal, qualitative case studies of third places initiated and/or supported by local authorities, big companies, sports clubs, or public institutions conducted in France, the paper identifies key moments of rupture—public legitimation, contractualization, and the incorporation of digital participatory tools—that transform these spaces into semi-institutionalized arenas aligned with broader architectures of digital participation (online consultations, civic platforms, participatory budgeting). The analysis shows that third places neither fully resist nor simply reproduce top-down digital invited spaces. Instead, they operate as socio-technical mediators that translate institutional participatory norms into localized practices, simultaneously enabling forms of empowerment and reinforcing selective inclusion and institutional control. By extending the concept of digital invited spaces beyond formally designed online platforms to include spatially grounded and digitally mediated participatory sites, the paper contributes to debates on local-level inclusion, governance through participation, and the paradoxical domestication of convivial democratic practices. References Illich, I. (1973). Tools for Conviviality. London: Calder & Boyars. Gaventa, John (2006). Finding the Spaces for Change: A Power Analysis. IDS Bulletin, 37(6), 23-33. DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2006.tb00320.x Rouet, G., Côme, T. (2023). Participatory and Digital Democracy at the Local Level. Springer. DOI Cornwall, A., Gaventa, J. (2000). From Users and Choosers to Makers and Shapers: Repositioning Participation in Social Policy. IDS Bulletin, 31(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2000.mp31004006.x Visser, Vivian; van Popering-Verkerk, Jitske; van Buuren, Arwin (2021). The Social Production of Invited Spaces: Toward an Understanding of the Invitational Character of Spaces for Citizens’ Initiatives. VOLUNTAS. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00310-w Nowicka, Magdalena & Vertovec, Steven (2014). Introduction: Comparing convivialities: Dreams and realities of living-with-difference. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(4), 341–356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549413510414 Nowicka, Magdalena & Heil, Tilmann (2016). Convivialities: An Orientation. (Taylor & Francis / journal article). https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2016.1213786