We lack the moral courage to be honest about why real world community disintegrated and are therefore doomed to suffer these pedantic lectures that miss the point and point in random directions.
Immigration and assimilation policies in the west have been too rapid, faster than even those who think they're open minded can adapt to new people.
The result is a pervasive societal siege mentality with everybody retreating into their homes. The Starbucks data on where "third places" are thriving or dying aligns very well with this model.
The answer is as obvious as it is unwelcome, which is it slow down a bit and give people and families time to adapt to their strange new neighbors and neighborhoods.
Didn't read but will that article since it sounds interesting. But does Starbucks mention their potential to be a third place? Because as long as you have to pay for something to stay a certain amount of time it will never be a third place. It is, in my experience, a more relaxed place regarding the relationship consumed/time in the place compared to other cafés but that is not all that makes a third place.
I mean, I would never consider just go to a Starbucks and expect to meet people without having to pay for something
Notably absent from your comment is what you honestly think caused the disintegration of real-world community. I'd posit that it's an expected systemic outcome of unbounded and undirected capitalism.
