{"id":7020,"date":"2015-07-27T10:28:59","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T17:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josemarquez.com\/xsml\/?p=7020"},"modified":"2015-07-27T10:28:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T17:28:59","slug":"the-ebb-and-flow-of-public-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/2015\/07\/27\/the-ebb-and-flow-of-public-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"The ebb and flow of public spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A slow yielding of public to private spaces led to a tremendous opportunity for Starbucks in the early 1990s: not to sell coffee but to <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&#038;q=starbucks+public+space&#038;btnG=&#038;as_sdt=1,5&#038;as_sdtp=\">rent public space<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To rent a Starbucks public space you purchase a disposable token (a white Starbucks coffee cup) and place it near your person. The cup contains a complimentary drink. The tokens are uniform in outward appearance but can be filled with various liquids which are <a href=\"http:\/\/timharford.com\/2006\/01\/starbucks-economics\/\">sold at different prices<\/a> to allow the consumer to signal who they are. The liquids may be consumed.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s understandable that Starbucks would attempt to program a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/03\/23\/business\/media\/starbucks-ends-tempestuous-initiative-on-race.html?_r=0\">discussion of race<\/a> throughout its chain of &#8220;public squares.&#8221; The effort failed but I bet they&#8217;ll try again, perhaps by allowing regional or individual stores to set the agenda and partnering with established brands.<\/p>\n<p>I was reminded of Starbucks&#8217; trade in public spaces by this <a href=\"http:\/\/medievalbooks.nl\/2015\/07\/10\/chain-chest-curse-combating-book-theft-in-medieval-times\/\">short history of anti-theft devices<\/a> in medieval libraries.<\/p>\n<p>By way of analogy, the author asks : &#8220;Do you leave your e-reader or iPad on the table in Starbucks when you are called to pick up your cup of Joe?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mick Stevens, <em>The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0December 1, 2015:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/mick-stevens.new-yorker.png\" alt=\"mick-stevens.new-yorker\" width=\"530\" height=\"436\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7125\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A slow yielding of public to private spaces led to a tremendous opportunity for Starbucks in the early 1990s: not to sell coffee but to rent public space. To rent a Starbucks public space you purchase a disposable token (a white Starbucks coffee cup) and place it near your person. The cup contains a complimentary&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josemarquez.com\/etc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}