Can Coffee Shops Save America?

 

By Frank Filocomo

I have written before about the communitarian nature of coffee shops, but the salience of these little civic places bears repeating. 

Cafes are, in many ways, community hubs that are integral to the robustness of civil society. 

In my neighborhood, there is a cafe practically on every block. Some are, of course, more vibrant than others. While I can think of a few shops that are rather sterile and lacking in adequate seating, others are often crowded and bustling with conversation. 

In Front Porch Republic - a publication that is easily becoming one of my favorites - Dennis Uhlman writes about the liveliness of his local coffee shop in Columbia, South Carolina:

Baptist pastors, Presbyterian pastors, engineering students, and art students learn each other’s names in a way that would be unlikely in any other sort of social arrangement.

Cafes, much like the one that Uhlman frequents, are third places. These are - as defined by Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term - informal gathering places, known for their low barriers to entry. Because of the low barrier to entry, third places have a leveling effect. That is, anyone from any profession or socio-economic status is welcome. 

This social-leveling component is particularly important. As Uhlman notes, America, from its conception, has been an amalgam of different peoples with different histories. While there is merit in pluralism, it also presents a pernicious problem: lack of social cohesion. This is, in part, ameliorated by third places. Modern day coffee shops, like the New England taverns of colonial America, "break down social barriers and bring different types of people together."

Aside from facilitating social and economic-connectedness, Uhlman writes of the many other benefits of coffee shops, such as their role in reducing political polarization. I encourage you to read the piece here. 

Safe Communities Are Healthy Communities

By Frank Filocomo

People, before they can participate in civic life, must first feel safe. 

In high-crime municipalities, citizens often do not have the leisure of becoming more engaged in their communities. Rather, they focus on survival. 

Robert Steuteville, in an article for Public Square, writes that "people don’t linger in places where their hair stands on the back of their necks." One's environment must be conducive to civil society. For the article, he interviewed urban planner Ray Gindroz who remarked that "...if people feel lost or trapped within a public space, unable to see or find a quick way out, they will avoid it."

I recently read Evicted by Matthew Desmond, a powerful book that follows the lives of poverty-stricken tenants in Milwaukee. The families that Desmond follows are simply in no position to think about joining book clubs or political campaigns; they are bogged down by, what my old NYU professor used to call, "the burden of necessity."  That is, the majority of their time and energy is solely focused on finding food and shelter. 

Luckily, though, there are amazing people in this world like Gindroz, who have dedicated their lives to making communities safer. You can read Gindroz's seven qualities of safe spaces here. 

I was struck by quality #1: Human presence:

People in a public space must feel the presence of other people in the space and in the buildings surrounding the space. The sense that we are not alone and are being observed helps us to behave properly and feel safe. Windows are symbols of that presence, whether people are behind them or not. Mixed-use buildings help promote 24-hour presence.

What do you know... it turns out we do actually need each other.