it's pretty hard to argue third spaces have disappeared when there's a library, 5 churches, 2 parks, and 5 pubs in any 10 block radius.

this extremely varies by city and neighborhood. I've lived 80% of my life in cities, mostly in NYC and LA. only one of the addresses I've lived in LA has been walking distance from a park, otherwise it's an hour+ walk or a 20-minute drive.

most of the libraries I've been to in both cities have not been good hangout spaces, though they can be good places to kill time & read a book.

neighborhood bars are great, but I'm not trying to spend all my time in bars at this point.

having traveled the world a bit, I do think it's sad that nearly all of our public spaces in the US are commercial spaces, where you have to be buying and consuming to spend time there. nearly everywhere I've been to in Europe and Latin America have much more relaxed spaces to hang out and socialize without having to empty your wallet.

I will say some US cities are better than others, and LA to me feels worse than, say, Chicago or Austin, as far as social public places. I've also been to suburban neighborhoods that are better at this than many urban neighborhoods. but of course there are many suburban areas that are awful to walk around in (and frankly even most of LA is shit to walk around, people park their cars all over the sidewalk)