The real image of the community, by the people involved in Third Place:

The view of Toyooka City from the people like ‘link workers’ in Daikai-Bunko

Abstract

　　　　Daikai Bunko, located on Daikai-dori Street in the center of Toyooka City, is a shared library, bookstore, and café based on a one-box bookshelf owner system. In addition, it is also a counseling center by medical and welfare professionals regarding loneliness and health, and functions as a place for social prescribing. A variety of people are involved here as store keepers and others who connect people with the community. In this paper, we analyze the results of the interviews with the method of SCAT (Steps for Coding and Theorization) and clarify how these people, who can be called “connectors = link workers,” see the city of Toyooka. The image of Toyooka as seen by the link-worker personnel involved in the Daikai Bunko included not only points of view and expressions of dissatisfaction regarding what “does not exist” and what is becoming desolate, but also suggestions of what “exists” from a perspective from outside the community. It also became clear that they were reading various signs of changes in current issues, such as the opening of the Daikai Bunko, the opening of the Professional College of Arts and Tourism, and the Toyooka Theater Festival.