It’s what’s called a third space, and those have been dwindling. Thankfully there is a movement to make walkable neighborhoods and increase park area, but generations have grown up with no where to go for free to socialize, and it shows, half of us are feral and a third don’t know when to shut the fuck up and move along. Or just sit and enjoy being alive around other people. That is now a cultural issue caused by greed, corps and the wealthy needed never ending record profits and they made us reliant on cars, and made all entertainment cost something. It’s time to develop a different culture that acknowledges we need free socialization for the good of everyone. Some peaceful, some sporty, some nerdy, some crafty.. all kinds, because a healthy society takes all kinds supporting each other.

Mine has levels of expected quietness, from kid’s corner to stuff m study rooms

Yeah ours has signs saying you dont need to be quiet. It's just a public space. That said, the layout creates places which are naturally quieter.

My library has a quiet floor, but the rest are good places for students to get together to study and do group projects.

There's also study rooms you can borrow if you need a door between you and the world.

We need ultralibraries for the peeps sensitive to auditory stimulus.

I ended up paying to go to a private library a while back and it was blissfully quiet. Wasn’t much either, like $10/month.

Whoa, where is that?

Imma bus driver and I enforce the no speaker rule. Idgaf I'll pull over the bus and wait, kick people out. I get paid by the hour. My favorite is the kids who pretend they can't hear or see you.

I pull the bus over and say we're not moving till the speakers off and they've acknowledged the no speaker rule. They keep up their ignoring me tactic for about 90seconds, then the other passengers turn on them. 50/50 they get off the bus/ or show the barest amount of contrition and actually acknowledge the no speaker rule.

Back in the day, cigar makers used to hire people to read newspapers aloud while they worked.

Aren't those all about talking things through, though?

they tend to open the doors when someone is about to talk on an amplified microphone