About That “30 Americans Buying Coffee” Meme
There’s a popular urban planning meme that compares an American drive-thru coffee shop with an outdoor European cafe.
It’s highly effective at conveying America’s all-in commitment to a landscape that prioritizes cars instead of people. Many of us have been in one of those cars in that line, and we were probably grateful for the convenience at the moment. But the European model isn’t just a better personal experience; it’s also better for a place.
In my career as a travel journalist, I spent plenty of time exploring popular destinations and attractions. But many of my best moments have come from slowing down to the pace of the place I’m visiting and taking it all in. So here’s how I find coffee — and sometimes magic — when driving in Europe:
Locate the nearest town on map and zoom in to see if it has a plaza or pedestrian zone. This orientation makes a bigger difference than it sounds. I’m not seeking “coffee near me,” I’m looking for a place knowing that coffee will be one of its amenities.
Ditch the car on the outskirts of the town.
Find a central square and look for people sitting at cafe tables.
On a recent trip to France, and on several others in multiple countries, this strategy led me to a place like this:
The coffee arrived in a real mug with a biscuit. At the next table, young parents chatted over a beer while watching their children play in the car-free zone. A horse was ridden into the medieval town square. My girlfriend and I sipped slowly and felt the kind of comfort that comes from being social creatures in a safe habitat.
On our post-cafe stroll, we walked into a nearby craft shop, where the owners told us it was their first day in business. We meandered among ancient stone houses and colorful gardens. By the end of the pit stop, we were discussing booking our next European trip there.
Your results may vary, and obviously a leisurely vacation is different from a hectic American’s typical day. But making your place hospitable to people and commerce will pay far greater dividends than the tax base from one drive-thru.
Strong Towns members and allies understand this better than most. That’s why so many are championing the kinds of small-scale, people-centric changes that can turn a street into a place residents and visitors want to spend time (and money) in. And many of these actions are taking place in parts of American towns that served as social and commercial hubs before so much activity migrated to the stroad.
In Maumee, Ohio (winner of the 2024 Strongest Town Contest), city leaders reclaimed a section of state highway and reconfigured it for local use by reducing the travel lanes, adding parallel parking between curb cuts and planting street trees. In Norfolk, Neb, (also a Strongest Town semifinalist), the city is making its downtown walkable again by adding mid-block crosswalks, replacing signalized intersections with stop signs and turning a former parking lot into a popular park.
I’ll never go back to a stroadside shack in anytown U.S.A. unless absolutely necessary. But there’s a village in France that might reap a lot of business from me for being such a people-friendly place (like this town in Florida already has).
Ben Abramson is a Staff Writer at Strong Towns. In his career as a travel journalist with The Washington Post and USA TODAY, Ben has visited many destinations that show how Americans were once world-class at building appealing, prosperous places at a human scale. He has also seen the worst of the suburban development pattern, and joined Strong Towns because of its unique way of framing the problems we can all see and intuit, and focusing on local, achievable solutions. A native of Washington, DC, Ben lives in Venice, Florida; summers in Atlantic Canada; and loves hiking, biking, kayaking, and beachcombing.