Coffee shops and how to decide what city to travel to?
Tags: Coffee, Geography, Cities, Urban Planning

I bought a coffee the other day in a shop for a price that is vastly greater than that if I had bought the beans and made it myself — although I do not doubt that the quality of the product I could produce would be inferior to that bought at a coffee shop. The point is I paid for a coffee when economically it would make much more sense for me to buy a cheaper product and make the coffee at home why? The answer is commodification. When I buy the coffee from the coffee shop I buy 3 things: the experience of the coffee, the design and aesthetic of the coffee shop, and the coffee shop's “culture” of drinking coffee. If I was just paying for the coffee beans, the cup, the milk, and the sugar the price wouldn’t set me back as much however the coffee has been branded and sold to me so not only am I paying for the base ingredients I am paying for the brand of Coffee. In a globalized world not only do we pay to visit cities we pay to visit brands; places that are sold to us as much more than what they are.

When buying my coffee from a coffee shop. In the same way, cities sell their design and architecture to me as it is superior to the design and architecture of the town I live in. An example of this is the Nationale-Nederlanden building in Prague, or more commonly known as the dancing house. The dancing house was designed by Fred O’Ghery in 1996. The building follows ideas of other buildings in its region however its peculiar shape and post-modern ideas are designed to stand out against its mundane backdrop. The architecture is sold to Prague’s 8 million visitors with many taking pictures of or with the dancing building. The design of the city is curated through unique architecture like the dancing the house making Prague an attractive option to its visitors the same the coffee shop has a unique design that attracts me.

Photo by John Jacobson on Unsplash

One reason I drink my coffee at a coffee shop and not at home is that I like the idea of sitting in a coffee shop and reading a book whilst drinking my coffee. The idea of the coffee shop is sold to me, the “culture” if you like. Cities like coffee shops sell their culture. Cities create and nurture an attractive culture by cultivating cultural centers and businesses that attract the creative class to the city. Over time the creative class will create their own ideas of the city and an attractive cultural environment will form. An example of this can be seen in the £14 billion regeneration of Liverpool where money has been invested in cultural sites such as the Tate gallery in the Albert dock area which have helped push forward the culture of the city and make it more attractive to the 38 million tourists the city attracts.

Going to the coffee shop over drinking my coffee at home is an event I am paying for it is an activity. With the rise of the experience economy, more cities are now focusing on attracting tourists with memorable events. Cities want to offer a unique experience to a tourist to entice them to come and visit. Cities can do this in several ways. Restaurants, theatres, and sports events all sell experiences to tourists to name a few. In New York, the experience economy is sold in various for example food tourism (think New York pizza), theatres (Broadway) and large sports events such as watching the Yankees are all experiences that are sold to tourists.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Cities are branding themselves and selling themselves to you and this is important, why? Because cities like coffee aren’t made equal and if you know what to look for (culture, aesthetics, and experience) you can decide to invest your time and money in the best city for you.