The Way We Live Now

Karen Christensen
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Thinking globally, acting locally: stories, tools, & ideas. Karen Christensen talks with authors, experts, and others to explore ways we can make the world a better place. karenchristensen.substack.com

  1. Aug 7

    The Bar Parliaments of Finland

    Antti Jauhiainen, a postgraduate researcher in Finland, joins Karen Christensen to talk about “bar parliaments,” a familiar Finnish term for the third places where people linger and talk. Not always about politics, of course, but politics are part of the conversation even when there is disagreement. Other aspects include social welfare and the welfare state, the informal nature of third places, and why third places can’t have an agenda. Naturally, Karen and Antti also talk about the sauna, another well-known Finnish gathering place. Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Jul 28

    We all need a Happy Hour

    Jim Peters, president of the Responsible Hospitality Institute, joins Karen Christensen to talk about third places in the context of the “happy hour.” Jim explains how the commercial notion of a happy hour came about, how it evolved, why many states shut them down, and his involvement in the first ban in Springfield, Massachusetts. Happy hours have been banned in Massachusetts for many years. But there’s a distinct possibility that our laws will change, thanks to the “Tartan Army” that came to Boston for the World Cup (”No Scotland, no party”). Jim has some thoughts about how best to do this, while Karen makes a pitch for a daily happy hour in a third place. Responsible Hospitality Institute: sociablecity.org. Emma Urdangen’s article “Pull up a stool: A guide to happy hour in Evanston.” “Where Massachusetts wants to take its Scottish love affair next | Gov. Maura Healey discussed what the Tartan Army takeover of Boston has to do with her affordability agenda.” “This grandma fought for a bill to allow happy hour at retirement homes | Anita LeBrun said she hoped to enjoy a drink with her friends, but it was also a matter of independence.” Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jul 28

    Can you have a real third place online?

    Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

    Can you have a real third place online?

  4. Apr 29

    From Serbia to Iowa City, third-place talk is bubbling up

    A conversation about cafes, bistros, pub sheds, apartment cafes, and more—as well as Antoine Burret’s current initiative, Europa Cafes—and how they work as third places or tiers lieux. These diverse places, and ideas about their importance, can be a puzzle, and Antoine (in Geneva) and Karen Christensen (in Massachusetts) tease out common factors. Political conversation is on the agenda, so they also discuss the role of such places in France, Serbia, Cuba, and the United States. They consider the challenges that face both businesses and nonprofits that aim to be third places and promote social life. Antoine also provides history of the way “third place” became equated with coworking in Europe and then part of French government policy and funding. We discuss how the definition has been evolving, and breaking down. Europa Cafes www.europacafes.org Antoine’s book, Nos Tiers Lieux: https://fypeditions.com/nos-tiers-lieux-defendre-les-lieux-de-sociabilite-du-quotidien/ Karen’s forthcoming The Great Good Place II: https://greatgoodplace.org Foucault concept: “heterotopia,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterotopia_(space) Mentioned when talking about Serbia: Milena Dragićević Šešić’s biography is available here: https://www.unesco.org/creativity/en/biography/milena-dragicevic-sesic Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

    From Serbia to Iowa City, third-place talk is bubbling up

  5. 12/30/2025

    Let's make leaving home a New Year's resolution

    Urban policy and housing expert Diana Lind joins Karen Christensen to discuss her Washington Post opinion piece “America is becoming a nation of homebodies.” They discuss the connection between the housing crisis and the loneliness epidemic, both topics we’ve been hearing about a lot. They also talked about the reasons people stick with big properties even when life might be better, simpler, and more social in a smaller home. And Diana explains how there are business opportunities and policy levers such as permitting reform and improved transit that can be used to make it more likely that more of us will leave home. Show Notes Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing The New Urban Order at Substack “America is becoming a nation of homebodies,” Washington Post, August 2025. “Sober Up, Harvard,” Harvard Crimson. (Mentioned in the show.) Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

  6. 12/16/2025

    Career women, wives and mothers, and presidents chosen by God

    We read biography and memoir to be titillated, but we’re also looking for ways to understand ourselves and our world, and ways to tell our own stories. Carl Rollyson joins Karen Christensen to talk about the idea that every biography is an autobiography. Given how much we hear today about the need for politicians to be “authentic,” it is instructive to hear how Carl’s subjects took on different roles at different stages of their lives, and how we write, and read, biography in order to live vicariously, to experience other possible lives. Carl also discusses his forthcoming book about presidential biography, from the University of Virginia Press, in which he writes about everyone from George Washington to Donald Trump--and finds a startling parallel in the lives of two men whom one might think came from different planets. He calls them “providential presidents,” in the sense that many of their followers believe them to have been sent by providence—or God. Carl’s comparison is fascinating and persuasive, and useful in the context of the slogan “No Kings.” What if 30% of Americans still want to have a king? We wrap with a few words about Carl’s next project, a biography of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick. Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

  7. 12/11/2025

    What should we call the places we love?

    Host Karen Christensen is joined by sociologist Katherine Giuffre, now retired to Italy, who used Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good Place with her students for many years. They share a concern that term “third place” is being used indiscriminately, diluting the original meaning and making it harder to find the social connections we need. They talk about distinctive features of a third place, and how having a third place of your own manifests itself. Kathy’s amusing story about a crisis at the pub-restaurant in a tiny Italian village illustrates some of the things she considers most important. Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

  8. 12/06/2025

    How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do about It

    Daniel Knowles, a journalist at the Economist, joins Karen Christensen to talk about his book, Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It. The publisher calls it “A high-octane polemic against cars,” but that’s not all. While Knowles has plenty to say about what’s wrong with cars, he is also eloquent about the benefits, and beauty, of life with fewer cars around. Note that “fewer.” Not no cars, but fewer of them, and more trains and bikes and walkable streets. Knowles is not advocating change by directive, but argues that the market could and should do the job for us. That is, if we can recognize that we have been subsidizing automobiles and strangling other forms of mobility. The conversation also gets into the pros and cons of EVs and the political importance of the auto industry, and highlights positive developments as well as some of the problems with transit planning. Get full access to The Way We Live Now at karenchristensen.substack.com/subscribe

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Thinking globally, acting locally: stories, tools, & ideas. Karen Christensen talks with authors, experts, and others to explore ways we can make the world a better place. karenchristensen.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Karen Christensen
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Berkshire Publishing Group
  • Show Website
    The Way We Live Now