Cities are changing along with the role of the internet in our lives. Consider this:
Some of the hippest coffee bars on the continent are shutting off their wifi Internet service. What initially drew in customers is now hampering the growth of business for the cafes with great food, coffee, and locations — at least in prime time.
When one person sits at a table, slowly sipping one cup of coffee for 2 hours while surfing the net, it can repel other customers, especially those that come in small groups and order food as well as espresso beverages.
There are a couple significant developments for urban life to note in this shift.
First, WIFI has become so common in “third place” businesses like cafes and fast food restaurants that in many ways its a “unique offering” to not offer it. It suggests that this cafe is for food, coffee and socializing, as well as being “unplugged” and thinking without the distraction of constant information. Kinda retro, if you will, or maybe chic depending upon the establishment. And also very urban–after all, why are people in cities if not to experience other people.
Second, freeloading internet access off restaurants and cafes may start to become very “low brow” or “un-hip.” This may make the access at libraries and other civic spaces more utilized and valued. It’s okay to sit in the library for hours reading books or magazines or newspapers–always has been. Now it will also be a place where it’s okay to freeload internet access for the day. This could help rejuvenate libraries.
Third, from the popularity of working in third places, like coffee houses, it seems that many urban residents actually need a place where they can get out of their house or apartment, meet the occasional customer, and have a coffee while working. Starbucks isn’t always the right venue as it can get loud, parents with crying babies can come in, etc. Maybe there is a need for a more professional, business centre that looks a bit like a coffee house with a variety of seating options, serves coffee (employs a barrista) but also offers a printer, a scanner, fax and other services. Perhaps you pay by the hour to be there, or a monthly membership and the latte is included. Maybe such a place already exists.
As more people live in dense areas, and as more people work freelance or are permitted significant flexibility by their employer, urban spaces for working and collaborating and unplugging continue to change. What’s next?
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Thanks for the great post, I know at least one place that resembles the “professional business centre” that you mentioned. In the United Arab Emirates, the company Shelter has converted out of the way industrial buildings into great business hubs. The facility provides a space to network for professionals and entrepreneurs. It includes a shop, workspace and a brasserie. You can find more info and see some amazing pictures on their website http://shelter.ae/ .
Turning off WIFI and plugging into cities | All About Cities…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
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With the proliferation of wireless signals throughout our cities, there does seem to be some value to escaping from them. All the paints developed to blocking radio frequencies in the past few years can attest to that. Theatres, cinemas, high-end restaurants, can all benefit from blocking distractions brought by wireless signals thereby enhancing the occupants’ engagement.
Check out The Network Hub Hubhttp://www.thenetworkhub.ca
The brainchild of a local Vancouver entrepeneur….and a great alternative to working from a coffee shop.
FWIW, my experience in NYC is very different than yours in Vancouver. I know many places that never wanted WiFi, but none that have turned it off.
John – I don’t know any in Vancouver that have turned it off, the examples were from San Fran and LA. However, I could see some places in Van doing just that in the near future.
That’s all well and good for people who can afford to have internet at home, or who at least have libraries open in the evening. But it’s a bummer for broke college students like me.
I suspect the result will be tiers of coffee shops. Starbucks is unlikely to pull the plug on wifi anytime soon – they only started providing it for free recently. So Starbucks will probably be the “low-brow” place where you can be sure to find free internet, while boutique, local coffee shops may try to transform themselves as you’ve said. If they can afford the loss of business.
Ont. parents suspect Wi-Fi making children sick…
Parents in Barrie, Ont., are demanding the local school board turn off wireless world wide web in schools. (Canadian Press) A group of central Ontario parents is demanding their children’s schools turn off wireless world wide web before they head ba…
My first reaction is worry that all my favorite “coffee-shop-offices” won’t be my favorite offices anymore. I don’t want them to stop providing free WIFI for my sake, but I understand the concern. I often feel like the coffee shops don’t actually want me to sit there for hours on end working without buying anything, but that if they didn’t offer any WIFI at all they might have far less business to begin with.
I’d like to see other options pop up, though. I know some coworking spaces are forming around my area and adding a barrista/coffee touch would be nice.
Melanie and others who had comments stuck in the spam filter…thanks for them and my apologies for not retrieving them sooner.
Great link to network hub. I could see these types of places expanding. From their website it says that you can rent a desk for $5 an hour, about the cost of a fancy latte drink.
It’s a cool space with great light, brick and beam character.
If found this post on wifi in cafes to be really interesting and I do see the value in places that are unplugged. However, as a college student without an internet connection in my apartment, cafes with wifi are a lifesaver and a necessity. My alternative is going to the library however I find that going to a café is more comfortable for me mainly because there is more freedom there (ie: not restrictions on food.)
As far as your comment that “reeloading internet access off restaurants and cafes may start to become very ‘low brow’ or ‘un-hip,’” I can see that happening to some customers but for customers like me, I don’t feel comfortable working on my computer in a café unless I see someone else with theirs. And to be honest, although I live and have lived in an “urban” city my whole life (Los Angeles,) I don’t really do so to “experience other people.” A problem, I know, but living in an urban city also grants me a sense of anonymity, even among a large group of people, say at a coffee shop, which allows me to get my work done. That is not to say that I do not want to experience others. I believe that getting experience is a problem in itself in the city I live in, and I am sort of curios how coffee shop socializing actually plays out and if engagement really does occur. Among what type of people? Someone commented about tiers of coffee shops resulting from wifi offerings and essentially choosing with coffee shop meet your needs. Would these “tiers” begin to distinguish one coffee shop goer set from another and in what ways? I think I may be taking this too far and I definitely am overanalyzing but is essence, I am interested to see what comes of these developments in terms of urban life.