RCI - Third Place

The research questions were as follows:

• Can specific social values of third-places be identified and objective (inclusion of more vulnerable audiences, local development and resilience of territories, alternative economic models, cultural mediation and transmission of skills and knowledge useful for an ecological and social transition) ?
• Can we define the dimensions and variables relevant to establishing a Third-Place Relational Capacity Indicator ?

This study, carried out by Cecile Ezvan (doctor in philosophy, professor of ethics and CSR associated with Excelia Business School), Helen L'huillier (doctor in economics, researcher associated with ESSEC's CODEV programme and independent consultant at an EAC in Occitanie), Fanny Argoud (PhD in Management Sciences at LEST), and Cécile Renouard (doctor in philosophy, professor of ethics at ESSEC Business School, at the Mines de Paris, and at the Faculties Loyola Paris) was funded by the National Agency for the Cohesion of the Territories (ANCT) and the ADEME.

The RCI-TL aims to create a tool for measuring the social contribution of third-party locations, which is suitable for local and public authorities to help guide public policy.

These are:

• reconsider the contributions and specificities of rural areas,
• value the dynamism of alternative rural areas and their role in strengthening the social link in cooperation with their territories,
• and reporting on the capacity of rural third-party sites to be laboratories for ecological and social change.

For this purpose, land has been carried out on 11 third rural areas labeled "Territory Manufacturer" or "Proximity Manufacture" co-chosen with ANCT and ADEME (eight places visited and three places called on the phone). Individual interviews on-site or by telephone were also conducted with officials and members of third-party locations, outsiders and experts.

A questionnaire was administered to more than 250 people out of the eleven third sites studied (CIR-TL calculation and social link effects).

The RCI-TL consists of 5 dimensions (personal encapacitation, relations within the place, relation to the territory, relation to society, relation to the environment) and 22 criteria in total.

The results of the study showed that third-party locations make specific contributions to the territory:

1. a culture of social economy and solidarity for solidarity,
2. binding as the basis of the third-place model,
3. care and friendliness for overall health,
4. governance for democratic capacity,
5. the intrinsic and instrumental value of relationships objectified by the relational capacity indicator.

The RCI-TL is already suitable through a third-place impact measurement tool focused on social link.