Essay - Communication in 'Quiet Backs' Pattern Language in the Urban Public...

Communication in 'quiet backs' pattern language in the urban public space

***** the venue of this field observation note, I chose a small cafe located just outside a business district, whose proprietor is ***** member of a small, quiet neighborhood area. This place is considered (in Chr*****topher Alexander's terms) as belonging to the 'quiet ***** location in the urban ***** space category, which is defined ***** a place where "people can relax, rub shoulders, and renew themselves."

***** ***** definition of a loc*****l cafe as possessing a 'quiet backs' pattern, I therefore identified the elements and dynamics among ***** that make it considered as such. There were generally three kinds of people who frequent the *****: the neighborhood members, whom the cafe owner knows personally; people who work in the nearby business *****; ***** strangers who happen to drop by and unwind at the *****. Members of ***** neighborhood are considered the patrons of ***** cafe, and they have familiar and comfortable relationship w*****h the cafe owner. They appe*****d to be more *****ed in their manner ***** dr*****king and lounging around the cafe; they also tend to order coffees with specifications—***** is, drinking from an exclusive mug, or coffee cup ***** either a dry ***** wet surface, ***** other things. Customers from the business district ***** to be louder when conversing than the neighborhood patrons. More often, they stay at the cafe for a few minutes or just p*****ss by to make take-out ********** they are also easily recognized as 'outsiders' in the ***** *****cause they wear more formal clothes and lack the congenial nature that the ***** patrons are known to possess. L*****tly, the strangers or 'passers-*****' in the cafe lacked interaction with o*****r patrons and customers of the cafe, though I have observed ***** most of *****m converse for a few minutes ***** the owner, le*****ving ***** place after ordering or finishing their c*****fee. Evidently, the neighborhood patrons are the 'insiders' while ***** ***** are considered 'outsiders in the cafe; the ***** group is categorized between these two groups (insiders and outsiders).

What ***** remarkable in this cafe is that it lacked the artificiality of friendl*****ess ***** popular coffee shops like Starbucks seem to cultivate. In this *****, friendliness is natural, ***** exclusive in the sense that regular cus*****mers received a warmer welcome by the customers as compared to those ***** were ***** passing by. Since most of the ***** are regulars, I ***** observed that ***** can easily d*****tinguish ***** they should be friendly with: those who take time to drink their c*****fee and stay in the cafe were greeted and/or smiled at by some of them. Those ***** were just ***** by, however, only ***** the politeness of the staff, ***** most ***** the customers were indifferent to *****. Evidently, it is an unwritten rule in the cafe ***** the ***** is not just a place where a commodity ***** bought, but ***** ***** where interaction and rel*****ionships are created, if ***** cus*****mers would find the