International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 10, October 2016 438 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THIRD SPACES (BARS, CAFESAND SPECIFIC RESTURENTS ETC.) ON URBAN SPATIALSTRUCTURE: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CITY OF COLOMBO Namal Anuradha, Dr. Jagath Munasinghe, Planner. Chathura de Silva Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa Abstract- As a collection of lively phenomenon city, life is dependent on series of factors which define the urban spatial structure also. Conventional urban planning typically takes the view that the classification of city activities as commercial, institutional, residential, public, etc. But understanding the urban space in the category of third spaces, gives that real meaning of the urban space. According to that classification there are three spaces as first (home), second (Work place) and third (Other) spaces in the urban environment. In urban planning the second space is the mostly concerned space. There are many different activity based locations and those can be identified within the category of ‘third spaces’, but the ones such as pubs, bars, cafes, special restaurants, brothel houses, illegal drug spots etc. are a special category that is generally regarded as ‘not-so-desired’ activities in a city but more functioning locations of the city. But this category of third spaces is not getting the attention of the urban planning activities. Accordingly this paper examines the influence of the third spaces (bars, pubs, and specific restaurants etc.) distribution pattern on the urban spatial structure of Colombo Municipal Council area. In further it describes how these third spaces impact to the urban spatial structure and explores the relationships between the Third spaces location patterns and the spatial structure element of the City of Colombo using Correlation analysis. Through the understanding derived from the analysis, this paper calls for the due attention of the planners and urban designers for planning and designing the city environments to identify the hidden third spaces. And also to identify the vital role of locations of this category of third spaces and the distribution pattern that makes the cities more active and vibrant. Index Terms- Third Space, Urban Spatial Structure, City Functions, Urban Morphology I. INTRODUCTION onventional urban planning usually takes the view that urban activities can be broadly classified as commercial, institutional, residential, public, etc. This classification is limited in many ways as it does not reflect the real use of the urban space by it’s the inhabitants. In that context, understanding the urban space in a tiered classification: first (home), second (work) and third (other) provides a better conceptualization of urban space to the planners. Even though the first: that is home and the second: that is a work environment, are mostly of the concern in planning work, the third space has not yet gained the adequate attention of the planners, despite the planning implications that they have in the city. “The Third Space is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surrounding which separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace.” (Oldenburg, 1991) There are many different activity locations those can be identified within the category of ‘third spaces’, but the ones such as pubs, bars, cafes, special restaurants, brothel houses, illegal drug spots etc. are a special category that is generally regarded as ‘not-so-desired’ activities in a city, and therefore, are the least considered in planning. Yet, they are common in all urban areas and have an impact on the structure and the order of functioning of an urban area. Owing to the fact that these third spaces are regarded unimportant not many studies have paid their attention to the impact that they make in a city. Such attempts are not found in Sri Lankan context. Therefore, there is a gap in the knowledge in conventional planning discipline on the order and the impact of these third spaces in an urban environment. Bars, pubs, special restaurants like that places are popping up in an urban context with people’s needs as third spaces. The no of these places are increasing and those places attract people with adding a high level of functionality to the city. But the locations of these places are not placed with professional interventions and there are relationships of these places with other activities of the area. However the perceptions of most groups are in negative ways related to this places and there is a need to explore the relationship of these places with urban spatial structure. C