[Last modified: October, 26 2024 03:50 PM]
I went for a stroll in Gordon Square and noticed a cute café by the entrance of the park. Momo’s Garden Café, with its wooden cabin design blends in with the nature setting very well, creating an inviting space for people to relax, contemplate and connect. In the café, I noticed a diverse mix of people, some were gathered in small groups, chatting over coffee, but most were intently engaged with digital work tools. I observed a couple sitting at a tiny desk, facing each other, each with a laptop open and headphones on, completely absorbed in their work. Meanwhile, the other people that came alone were similarly focused, with headphones on and eyes fixed on their screens. This scene reminded me of what I saw in Waterstones bookstore for my week 2 ethnographic vignette, where most people were working with laptops instead of browsing books. In both settings, a shared and public environment was redefined into a space for productivity, as people brought their personal work into a relaxing social atmosphere.
Although this café is situated in nature and feels designed for unwinding, it was interesting to see that like Waterstones, it functions as another quasi-office for many people. This got me thinking about the act of buying coffee as a way to claim a workspace in a public setting, raising questions about ownership and the use of communal areas. This idea connected with themes in the book MINE! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives, where the authors discuss how everyday acts shape our sense of ownership and territoriality, in both physical and digital spaces. In Momo’s Garden Café, a similar dynamic occurs, where people momentarily establish a kind of ownership by purchasing a coffee, giving them “permission” to occupy the space as they work.
Cafes and bookstores are examples of hybrid spaces where the boundaries between private and public become fluid. It’s the kind of space that allows both leisure and productivity – both social gathering points and makeshift offices. Relating to bigger themes of space, built environment and ownership in urban settings. In both of these spaces, the act of purchasing coffee is a form to assert temporary ownership over public space. These hybrid places in urban setting are designed as communal yet become sites of personal territory as people carve out space for work within them. I see a cultural shift where the built environment must meet the consumers dual demand of both social connection and individual work.