About Third Spaces
Helping Austin youth find the best places to hang out, learn, and have fun — beyond home and school.
What is Third Spaces?
Third Spaces is an app the City of Austin is building to help young people find "third places" — the spots beyond home and school where you can hang out, learn, play, and be part of your community.
Think libraries, community centers, parks, rec centers, maker spaces, and more — places where you can find stuff to do that actually matches what you're into.
What is this Gallery?
This is the Youth Design Gallery — real app ideas created by Austin students as part of the Create to Code Challenge.
Students from elementary through high school teamed up to imagine what the Third Spaces app should look like and what features would matter most. Now we need your help! Vote for the ideas you love, leave feedback, and help us figure out what young people actually want in this app.
Your votes help decide what gets built. The ideas and features that get the most love will shape the real Third Spaces app.
How These Designs Were Made
Every design you see here started as a hand-drawn sketch, a written idea, or a pitch from a student team. Here's how we turned their ideas into what you see now:
Students Dream It Up
Teams of Austin students brainstormed, sketched, and described their ideal app features — everything from how to find the best hangout spots to wristband check-ins and AI recommendations.
Our Team Builds the Mockups
Our Create to Code team used AI design tools (like Google Gemini and ChatGPT) to turn those sketches and ideas into full app screen designs. Think of it like having an artist take your rough drawing and make it look like a real app.
Students Give Feedback
We brought the mockups back to each team for a feedback round. Students told us what looked right, what felt off, and what needed changing — just like working with a real design team.
The result? What you see here is a team effort — students came up with the ideas, and design tools helped make them look real. The creativity and vision? That's all Austin youth.
Some teams imagined physical spaces instead of app screens. For those, our team took what students loved about their "dream third space" and figured out how those ideas could work inside an app.
What Happens Next?
We're collecting votes and feedback right now, and they'll help shape what the real Third Spaces app looks like. The ideas that get the most love from young people will stand out.
- ✓ The final app will be shaped by what you tell us matters most
- ✓ Specific designs shown here are student concepts — not guaranteed features of the final app
- ✓ The goal is to build something Austin youth will actually want to use
This is your chance to have a real say in what gets built. Every vote counts.
How Voting Works
You can vote in three categories for each design:
I'd use this
You'd actually want to use this app
Super creative
This is a fresh, original idea
Works for everyone
It works for all kinds of people
No account needed! Vote as many times as you want across different designs. Your votes help us understand what features matter most to you.
About RIDP
The Resident Data Impact Project (RIDP) is a City of Austin team that uses technology and data to make life better for people who live here — while making sure your privacy matters.
Third Spaces is one of RIDP's biggest projects. Austin youth helped shape it through workshops, the Youth Council, and the Create to Code Challenge.
Built with AI, Guided by People
We want to be honest about how we built this. We used AI tools at a few different stages — but a real person was always in charge:
- Design mockups — Student sketches and ideas were turned into app screen designs using AI tools (Google Gemini, ChatGPT). Students got to review every design and tell us what to fix.
- This website — This gallery site was built with help from Claude Code, an AI coding tool by Anthropic. A real person made all the decisions about how it looks, how it works, and how your data is protected.
- Your data stays yours — No AI has access to your votes, feedback, or any information you share on this site. See our Your Data page for the full picture.
AI helped us move faster and do more with a small team, but the ideas belong to the students and the decisions belong to people. We think that's worth being clear about.
Questions? Ideas? Want to Get Involved?
Whether you're a student, parent, teacher, or just someone who cares about Austin — we'd love to hear from you.