年轻人涌入党群服务中心，省下“咖啡税”只是开始

Brief (coffeeyo.com): Young people are trading the café table for the free desks, Wi-Fi and air conditioning of neighbourhood community service centres. Saving the “coffee tax” is only the beginning — the bigger story is what public space ought to offer as work and study patterns change.

Ordering a drink in a café in exchange for the temporary use of a table is an everyday habit for many young people. Cafés are also described, in research and in marketing alike, as a “third space”. An hour or two is fine, but the longer you stay, the more the pressure to order another cup mounts. Lately that habit is being reshaped by a wave of “free”: as numerous media reports note, the community service centre on the doorstep has become a new destination for young people, with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, power sockets and hot water — all at no cost. One user worked out that it saves close to a thousand yuan a month.

For young people who need a quiet, stable place to study or work, the café was never the first choice because they loved coffee or enjoyed spending. Even if a café does not chase you out for ordering nothing and never refilling, sitting there all day still feels awkward. Where the café trades money for space, community service centres have been discovered and embraced precisely because they offer something more open and unhurried.

Is that not also true of public libraries? Library resources are limited, though: some are far away, some are crowded, and not every one suits long hours of study or work. So a number of community service centres have become small neighbourhood libraries, saving young people their “coffee tax”.

The significance goes beyond “free” and “saving money”. City dwellers have long taken for granted the parks, sports grounds and hospitals near home — the basic fabric of urban public services. But as the shape of work and study changes, residents are asking more of public cultural space too. For remote workers, people in flexible employment and students preparing for exams, a place to study and work is not enough on its own; ideally it should also allow socialising and leisure. The steady expansion of services at community centres answers exactly these new needs.

A look through the reporting shows some regions have gone considerably further. Community centres have not only been turned into study rooms but also offer dance and yoga classes and other cultural and fitness programmes. Beyond home and the workplace, they are becoming a “third space” for some young people. At the same time, many smaller cities and grassroots towns do have comparable spaces, yet may face different renovation costs, levels of actual demand and utilisation rates. Others worry: if refurbishment targets only the young, what happens to older residents and children who want to take part in community activities?

“Youth-oriented” does not mean “everyone else excluded”. The public character of a community service centre lies precisely in its capacity to accommodate people of different ages and different needs, and to hold different services and functions at once. Renovation cannot consider only one group; it should be shaped by local conditions and by the people concerned, taking the demographic mix, regional circumstances and real demand into account. Free is merely the entry point — publicness is the foundation.

In fact, this topic has been discussed in reporting and online posts for several years. Big cities may face a scarcity of public space, while some smaller cities face different conditions such as an ageing population or population outflow. A community dominated by young people may lack study and work space most; one with more older residents may need activity rooms more. So extending these practices should not mean copying a single popular template in a rush to roll it out everywhere.

The transformation of community service centres is not simply about giving young people somewhere free to go. It is about bringing public services closer to the real rhythm of people’s lives. The fact that young people want to come shows the new services fit new needs; the fact that people of all kinds can stay and take part says even more about what public service ought to be.

By Shang Yi. Source: China Youth Daily commentary WeChat account.

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