Introduction
1. The Café and the City
2. The Café: Sociality and Community from Both Sides of the Counter
3. Coffee Business
4. The Exported Café: Australia
5. Cafés in Asia: Japan
6. Café Culture in Mainland China and Hong Kong
7. Ambience, Atmosphere and Design
8. Wired and Working: Technology, Work and the Café
Afterword: A Heady Brew
Biography
Emma Felton is Senior Lecturer in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology. She has written widely about urban experience from interdisciplinary perspectives, including gender and design approaches. She is co-author and editor of the book Design and Ethics: Reflections on Practice (Routledge, 2012).
‘In Filtered, Emma Felton shows us how the café – and café culture – is entwined with urban development across place and time. Despite variations across continents and populations, cafés have made an indelible mark on our cities. Felton explains how the café is a window into our changing urban culture, work habits and social spaces. She details their uneasy relationship with broader issues including neighbourhood change and displacement, and their role in networks of global trade. This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in urban cultural studies.’
– Carl Grodach, Professor and Director, Urban Planning and Design, Monash Art Design & Architecture, Monash University
‘The author shows the historical and global continuities of the café as a social site. Her study employs observation, interviews and analysis of cultural texts. The interpretations are illuminating and the narrative entertaining. Felton shows how the café, and the act of having a cup of coffee, are at the centre of dilemmas related to how we now live, work and consume. Drawing on historical, cultural and sociological approaches, the study moves between the local and global scales, aesthetic and political dimensions. Along the way, Filtered helps us understand the ubiquity of the café and the centrality of coffee in our cities and cultures.’
- Ian Woodward, PhD, Professor, Consumption, Culture and Commerce, Department of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark
‘An intriguing brew of the social life of café culture and how it relates to dynamic urban transformation. By presenting historical and contemporary expositions that intricately plait café culture with economics, aesthetics, culture and technology, Felton’s book will appeal to both specialist and general readers.’
- Kelvin E.Y. Low, PhD, Associate Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore
