Cafes: New Learning and Knowledge Production Space for Millennial Students

The presence of new cafes and restaurants over the last three years in the city have been emerging. These cafes and restaurants do not only serve food or drink but also provide the facility to hang-out, play and study, which are a new phenomenon. This research aims to discover the reason why so many students fulfill these cafes and restaurants. The research conducted to a hundred and eighty-eight students in Bandung city, West Java. Nowadays, the students as consumers are getting voters to choose a place to study, besides in school or campus. This is a qualitative research which done by several observation and interviews. Seven new cafes and restaurants were chosen as research objects. The criteria specified in selecting consumers as informants is the frequency of attendance on the selected cafes and restaurants at least two times a week. A new culture in learning behavior was found. The findings and interpretation show that millennials students prefer to choose café or restaurants as a place for learning while they're eating. They do not want to study in campus or library due to a tedious atmosphere and stressful around campus according to students' opinions. A new definition of "space" (informal space) as a place for learning is found. The café caters to the imagery of erudite, cosmopolitan, and up-to-date youths, all of which are appealing. As a conceptualized space the humble café has transcended beyond its calling as a pit stop and has been reborn as an expression of academic life, combining knowledge production and mood booster, serious knowledge, and playfulness. The illustrious café, make no mistake is the representative space of choice for millennial (Z generation) scholars. This research and experiment were carried out in certain areas in West Java. similar research is needed in other cities or other countries. Besides, it is necessary to explore further what factors change millennial students learning behavior, whether only because of a more relaxed atmosphere or other factors. Implications: Similar experiments need to be applied to bring students outside the classroom to get a new atmosphere, mood booster and their participation in class, for other courses in college.