Comment by throwawayohio
6 months ago
So turning cafes into coworking spaces? They even use AirBnb as the base example, and we've seen how that's gone for cities around the world. This sounds tragic.
6 months ago
So turning cafes into coworking spaces? They even use AirBnb as the base example, and we've seen how that's gone for cities around the world. This sounds tragic.
Cafés already are coworking spaces. Much to the annoyance of the cafes. This tackles that.
And they always have been.
If you want people to just sit and eat - you're a restaurant.
If you want people to just order and leave - you're a food stall/truck.
Cafe's have always been the intermediate. A place to sit and read/discuss/write/work/hang out. While also occasionally going to the counter to buy small food or drinks.
If you're annoyed by this... don't run a cafe.
Simple & sane rules like "you have to order something to sit at a table" are hardly novel.
Even so, the economics may change over time. If the cafe's own expenses are going up, it has a difficult decision to raise prices (and lose business) or try to push through more business (and annoy customers).
In HCOL cities, the rents have pushed many coffee shops to incorporate hostile architecture. Especially in San Francisco.
I’m now imagining an art installation-tables designed so you can set a cup of coffee on them but any attempt to use a laptop will cause it to continually tip and rock while typing.
We’ve weaponized furniture against the homeless, why not against the laptop class?
This already sounds like every independent coffee shop I've been to in the continental US.
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I'm at a cafe in NYC right now. Every single person here is on their laptop including me.
The analogy is just that, an analogy. The Airbnb case can be tragic for some cities but for specific reasons that aren't going to affect cafés. I for one haven't seen anyone staying overnight and sleeping in a café.
The project could be catastrophic for cafes for unforeseen reasons, but those are surely not going to be the same as for Airbnb. You'd have to come up with a plausible threat scenario, otherwise your extrapolation of the analogy has no substance.