Regional networks

Strengthening the national and territorial network of third places

Many actors, project leaders and existing third places lack the engineering expertise and resources required to sustain their activities or develop their actions. The needs of many of them, including a growing number of local authorities, remain unmet because the third places they approach lack the capacity to provide support.

In response to this need, regional networks are being established. Throughout the country, third places have organised networks on a regional scale to pool their resources and roll out support actions. Their offerings range from training and occasional advisory services to support services lasting several days, or practical tools (forms, documentary resources, technical tools, etc.).

At the national level, France Tiers-Lieux, as the national association of third places, coordinates and co-constructs the tools required to sustain the movement, in collaboration with the institutions. Created in 2019, France Tiers-Lieux supports the structuring of the professional sector by working with the Conseil National des Tiers-Lieux (national council for third places). The extent of the phenomenon and the structuring of the ecosystem calls for the consolidation of its activities: creation of an observatory of professions and training programmes associated with third places; maintenance of a national resource centre; national communication campaigns and promotion of third places; co-construction of public policies in partnership with third places; development of partnerships between third places and national public or private players, etc.

The French State has made cooperation with the sector a priority in order to implement the engineering expertise and support for project leaders required to consolidate the stakeholders and develop projects nationwide. This cooperation is essential to support actors who are promoting ecological, economic, social and cultural transitions on a daily basis. Beyond the emergence of third places, it is a question of supporting what they are inventing, experimenting with and developing, and providing practical and hyper-local responses to the major challenges our regions are facing.