Why are cafés vital to a city center?

One of my best college friends father wrote a book about the elimination of the third space. We divide our time between three spaces, he said: work, home and the third space. In the past, the town square played the role of the third space. It provides a place to see neighbors, connect to friends in a random fashion, catch up on local happenings, and just relax. He argued that the third space is not only vital to a city center, but that it has virtually disappeared with the advent of sprawl and recent development.

I argue that today, for some of us at least, the café is our third space. While frequenting my favorite cafes, I’ve met many strangers, enjoyed all kinds of conversations, and made strong friends. In fact, I randomly run into a particular friend on a bi-monthly basis. Is it a surprise, that when we do, it seems to be perfectly timed? Cafés enable synchronicity and connectedness (two vital components to a city center).

Not all cafés qualify as a third space. Many are de-facto virtual offices. Take Starbuck’s for instance. After observing the scene for only minutes, it’s apparent that the patrons fall into two primary categories: people doing work on laptops and people conducting meetings. Don’t get me wrong: people do socialize in Starbuck’s. Only I feel the majority is there to do work. Therefore many cafés are simply an extension of the workspace.

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