Communication in 'Quiet Backs' Pattern

Communication in 'quiet backs' pattern language in the urban public space For the venue of this field observation note, I chose a small cafe located just outside a business district, whose proprietor is a member of a small, quiet neighborhood area.

This place is considered (in Christopher Alexander's terms) as belonging to the 'quiet backs' location in the urban public space category, which is defined as a place where "people can relax, rub shoulders, and renew themselves." Given this definition of a local cafe as possessing a 'quiet backs' pattern, I therefore identified the elements and dynamics among people that make it considered as such.

There were generally three kinds of people who frequent the place: the neighborhood members, whom the cafe owner knows personally; people who work in the nearby business district; and strangers who happen to drop by and unwind at the cafe. Members of the neighborhood are considered the patrons of the cafe, and they have familiar and comfortable relationship with the cafe owner.

They appeared to be more relaxed in their manner of drinking and lounging around the cafe; they also tend to order coffees with specifications -- that is, drinking from an exclusive mug, or coffee cup with either a dry or wet surface, among other things. Customers from the business district tend to be louder when conversing than the neighborhood patrons.

More often, they stay at the cafe for a few minutes or just pass by to make take-out orders; they are also easily recognized as 'outsiders' in the cafe because they wear more formal clothes and lack the congenial nature that the neighborhood patrons are known to possess.

Lastly, the strangers or 'passers-by' in the cafe lacked interaction with other patrons and customers of the cafe, though I have observed that most of them converse for a few minutes with the owner, leaving the place after ordering or finishing their coffee. Evidently, the neighborhood patrons are the 'insiders' while the strangers are considered 'outsiders in the cafe; the business group is categorized between these two groups (insiders and outsiders).

What is remarkable in this cafe is that it lacked the artificiality of friendliness that popular coffee shops like Starbucks seem to cultivate. In this cafe, friendliness is natural, though exclusive in the sense that regular customers received a warmer welcome by the customers as compared to those who were just passing by.

Since most of the customers are regulars, I have observed that they can easily distinguish whom they should be friendly with: those who take time to drink their coffee and stay in the cafe were greeted and/or smiled at by some of them. Those who were just passing by, however, only received the politeness of the staff, while most of the customers were indifferent to them.

Evidently, it is an unwritten rule in the cafe that the cafe is not just a place where a commodity is bought, but a place where interaction and relationships are.