Rebuildng little publics

Everywhere I go, and I'm sure I'm no exception, retail space is being hollowed out and opened up as Amazon et al eat the world. Yes, there are mild counter-trends as specific retailers learn to fight back, but that's the trend.

To the extent that theses spaces are finding tenants, they seem to be being replaced by two kinds of places: ones where you can ingest calories, and ones where you can burn them off: gyms, spin cycle studios, etc.

The common themes between these two seem to be the outsourcing of difficult functions (making interesting food, having the willpower to work out), but also just being in public. People seek places to come together and be with one another. Main streets and malls used to provide this outlet, but they are withering.

And one reads about the "epidemic of loneliness" and the fragmenting or splintering of society and I think there's much to this.

I know that I miss the days when Graham and I used to go to the public library on Sundays, both because it was a sort of ritual for the two of us, and because it was a great place to run into somewhat random people. Similarly, I am in principle happy to go to the grocery store, just to see people. Admittedly this kind of random bumping in is just good for my business, a necessary component of it, even.

This is one of the key drivers of the profusion of coffee shops and coworking spaces, and even the growth of WeWork, which is trying to create walled garden versions of this for professional people.

Which made me think of something Ben at the Faculty Club said to me about what we're doing over here at the lake. "Any amenity you can add is good." It makes me wonder whether it might not work to add a small library, study house, coffee space to a place like the Farm. It would be a huge risk, for sure.