Thinness and thickness are another pair of concepts sometimes used as a criticism of contemporary places. The criticism is that thin places, even if they are intense, do not engage our whole being as places should. Thinness can be used as a totalizing criticism, but it is more useful as a diagnostic tool for distinguishing between different kinds of contemporary places. Thin places involve thin social roles. Whether a place is thick or thin is not the same as whether it is complex or simple.
(c) David Kolb, 1 August 2001