In my smaller city, parks and benches are populated with homeless people of various types. At minimum, the benches are used.

Worse off, a significant minority are actively violent with a good dose of various untreated mental illnesses. Crossing them is not good for your health. And it also makes kind of a terrible environment to talk with friends, while avoiding drug needles.

Even the public library has similar problems, but at least they have security guards (yes, plural, sigh).

That basically leaves our respective homes/apartments and pay-money-to-consume-and-sit places. And even bars are mostly off limits due to highly acoustic reflective surfaces and overly loud music, to dissuade talking and encourage more drinking.

There's very little places to meet in public that is encouraging and free. Then again, I think that really is by design.

I kinda see both points. Yes there are things we can do without spending money and at the same time more and more of are social spaces are being commercialized along with the perception that anything that is worth anything to do costs money.

the homeless issue has caused cities to underprovision amenities like benches