The sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term "third place" to describe the informal public settings, such as cafes, barbershops, and corner taverns, that are neither home nor workplace yet anchor a community's social life. Such places, he argued, share several features: they are accessible without appointment, they level the distinctions of rank that structure the office, and they host a core of regulars whose familiarity makes newcomers feel welcome. Conversation, not commerce, is their principal activity. Oldenburg maintained that these settings foster the loose ties among acquaintances that knit a neighborhood together, and that their gradual disappearance in car-dependent suburbs has left residents more isolated. Later researchers have measured this claim, finding that neighborhoods with abundant informal gathering spots report higher levels of mutual trust among strangers than comparable areas without them.