I’m not sure how Starbucks ( or most coffee shops) are really third places. I imagine most people immersed in their phones or laptops would tend to brush off any serious attempts at conversation.
To another comment about this being all about lack of walk ability in many places I’m also not sure that being able to walk around an urban core suddenly makes it a social center absent some persistent stimulus.
My experience is groups of friends and activity partners generally tend to happen without close physical proximity.
It depends, I used to live in a very urban area of the city and the ground floors of most residential buildings were commercial. The Starbucks that was near where I lived had a lot of recurring locals that simply did remote work there in the tables, so you could meet people because it was essentially most of the same people everyday and you eventually had some interaction so you ended meeting the others - like work/student colleagues from different companies. I actually didn't remote work at the time but I used the space to study because my apartment was damn small. But this was before COVID and sadly that Starbucks unit closed during covid and I ended up moving from that small apartment to a suburban house around the same time.
To another comment about this being all about lack of walk ability in many places I’m also not sure that being able to walk around an urban core suddenly makes it a social center absent some persistent stimulus.
My experience is groups of friends and activity partners generally tend to happen without close physical proximity.