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> Sadly, safe, clean public places seem to be an exception rather than the norm in the world at large, at least from what little I've seen of it.

Visit Central/Eastern Europe. These places are a norm in there.

Or Japan

Or Australia.

Where exactly?

> video game arcades from my childhood as the best examples of places where people got together to have safe fun

As much as I loved '80s arcades (and wasted way too much money in them), "safe" is not exactly a word I'd use. Many of them, in Italy, quickly became drug markets or money-laundering operations (or both). Arguably, the few surviving ones are even worse today. They were not very healthy either, with no natural light and people smoking.

But yeah, it was a place to go with friends, and I have great memories about those times. Our furious NBAJAM challenges were the stuff of legend.

We have many of those places where I live, but I still don't take advantage of them. I think I'll try to change that and spend more time around other people in nature even if not directly interacting with them.

Edit: I realized I wrote this outside of a small cafe in my neighborhood, with people talking, relaxing on their own, and having breakfast. I consider myself an introvert but always seem to work better in cafes like this, with people around (especially if those people are also working). I always thought it was due to the tentative time limit making me focus better on the task at hand (since it would be rude to stay too long in a cafe), but now I'm wondering if just the proximity to other people might also be helping.