Post-modernity and globalization has been accompanied by a new fluidity of capital, culture and people. This fluidity in turn has produced hybrids in the cultural use of space and in the spaces of culture at a faster rate and of a greater degree of complexity than in the past. Cultural theory has until recently had only an historical and social focus. The rise of a spatial approach has allowed us to see the reflexive relationship between space and society and to examine these hybrids through a perspective of thirdspaces. Edward Soja further identifies a third aspect to spatiality itself, one beyond mere physical form or mental construct, but an alternative that incorporates and transcends both. Soja uses the concept of thirdspace to capture a radical new way of thinking that always posits an alternative to binary conceptions of space.

This conference posits that only within thirdspaces lies the potential to be simultaneously a place of both built and social hybrids. Thirdspaces are created by the effects of a changing culture, and are spaces of transition; transition between localities and over time. They elude the reflection of a single permanent power structure and are places of simultaneity and transience. They relate to both poles of binary conceptions of cross-cultural space and yet at the same time entirely transcend them. More than a mental place, thirdspaces hold the possibility for socio-political transformation.

How should designers of the built environment design in a context of thirdspace? And how might the definition of thirdspace be reconsidered in an investigation of actual examples? AsiaGSD raises specific examples found within the Asian immigrant communities of North America (Canada, USA, Mexico) of emergent hybrid phenomena that exhibit characteristics of Thirdspace. These examples include the topics of two Panel Discussions. Firstly, the proliferation of shopping malls designed to target a largely Asian clientele, and a new version of "Chinatown" in the form of an increasing number of suburban ethnic enclaves. They are the Third Spaces: Asian Manifestations.

Modes of visual artistic production other than architecture are adept at conveying the characteristics of thirdspaces. The cinema screen, video display and computer monitor present places of transience and simultaneity that are at the same time utterly of, and completely other to, the world in which they exist. It is hoped that an examination of the work of visual artists will give indications for how designers of the built environment can also explore the constructions of place and identity.

Architecture seems to possess characteristics that are contrary to those of thirdspace. In general it is stable, unchanging, and the product of a single vision or design. The design of two specific typologies particularly provokes issues of designing in a thirdspace context. One is the building/monument that represents and commemorates a culture. The other is the space of social interaction, be this urban interstice or suburban edge condition, commercial or public space. In the last panel AsiaGSD would like to pose the question of how architects and designers of the built environment can design conditions that are conducive to promoting qualities of thirdspace.