Friday, May 3, 2024

Urbanism 101: Hostile Architecture

hostile design

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Alternative designs include “anti-skate bars,” which break up the smooth surface of the bench’s edge so that skateboarders cannot grind along the side. Another example of hostile architecture is the design of so-called Camden benches in Camden, London. These benches were created in 2012, and were specifically made “to resist criminal and antisocial behavior.” They are able to be sat on or used for brief periods, but due to their design cannot be slept on.

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While he acknowledges that this might not be the most immediate solution to spur change, he argues that exposing everyday designs that people might take for granted is a key step towards doing so. To further inform people beyond the digital sphere, he is also distributing stickers he created, which are available on the website. These “design crime” stickers are intended for pasting on offending surfaces and are available through pay-what-you-can pricing. Some of the pavilions have since been rented out to commercial businesses and only one is open to the public just for sitting, but it has no tables and only a few benches. The goal was to get rid of homeless people and drug dealers who were starting to dominate the downtown shopping area.

Identifying hostile architecture

The high pitch noise is the mosquito box – while it does nothing to repel mosquitos, it causes headaches and forces people to leave the area. Young people are most susceptible to high pitch sounds, so they are more affected by it. There is much debate across American universities about whether Israeli divestiture is a good idea — and whether it can even be effective. Student activists across the country are asking for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. Many also say they want to ensure that free speech is upheld at their campuses and that their universities sign on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Project submissions will also be considered for our online exclusive content on hospitalitydesign.com.

hostile design

There are rarities, or “pearls,” that we find in each city we visited, when people come up with something different, something new, or something particular to address a problem that is specific to that location. Benches against sleeping were a classic, but now it has become even more pervasive to install anti-skateboarding rings or other obstacles. From that observation we started digging deeper into this phenomenon of silent agents. Proponents say this type of urban design is necessary to help maintain order, ensure safety and curb unwanted behavior such as loitering, sleeping or skateboarding. Lining the front of this HDFC Bank branch is several rows of hard, metal spikes. Despite the bank’s statements that they were crucial to reducing loitering, locals immediately pointed out the potentially disastrous outcome should a child, elderly, or disabled person accidentally fall onto the spikes.

The Value of Public Space: What is Hostile Architecture? - The Collector

The Value of Public Space: What is Hostile Architecture?.

Posted: Sun, 17 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

According to an entry in Wikipedia, anti-urination devices were incorporated into the walls in cities in 19th century England. Just a few blocks down from where Boyd was crabbing I saw a homeless man who already had found a way to transform one of the small green seats into his own residence. He packed belongings into the perforated metal seat made for two people, standing beside it to guard his bicycle, hiking boots, bedding and other possessions. Inconsistent application of fair housing laws across the country means tenants and home buyers of color and from other protected classes must educate themselves and be their own advocates. In Portland, a set of mysteriously installed bike racks is prompting questions about their true purpose. From the standpoint of inclusive design, an ideal town square would function as a focal point for socialization, safety, and belonging.

Hostile architecture is making our cities even less welcoming - The Guardian

Hostile architecture is making our cities even less welcoming.

Posted: Sun, 21 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

“A duty of care to the public”

In 2019, in a case known as Martin vs. Boise, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said cities cannot punish homeless people for sleeping on public property in the absence of an alternative. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether a small Oregon city can cite and prosecute homeless people for sleeping in public places when they have nowhere else to lay their heads. Local officials said the ruling was a disaster that expanded encampments, with homeless advocates arguing that people have a right to all sorts of materials in cold and inhospitable public spaces, including tents and fires. The Grants Pass case began when local homeless people challenged as unconstitutional a pair of city ordinances against sleeping and camping in public parks. When the Board of Supervisors voted a couple months ago to throw its support behind Grants Pass (population approximately 39,000), Horvath was one of two dissenting votes.

This means that we will have no choice but to focus energy on the link between urban design and mental health. The key is that we start making changes now before it becomes an even greater challenge. In The Netherlands in general, not much takes place in the public space, as the weather doesn’t facilitate comfortable stays outdoors for long hours. Distribution of common space also very particular in that country – most buildings, for instance, do not have a central, common staircase. In a typical urban layout, you enter your apartment directly from the street and each apartment has its own flight of stairs leading to the second or third floor of the building. This kind of privatism is reflected in the way public space is managed – there should be as few reasons as possible for conflict, and even interaction between the people who inhabit it.

While others called for the Supreme Court to clarify whether cities have the right to enact anti-camping policies that restrict those with no shelter from sleeping outside, Horvath warned of unintended consequences. Hostile design comes in even more innocuous, and sometimes even lovely forms. When set strategically in alcoves, “just as much as the spikes, it means that a homeless person can’t sleep there,” says Perry. All of them provide a place for tired citizens to rest their weary legs—and all of them have been designed to preclude homeless people from sleeping there by making it impossible or uncomfortable to lie down on the bench.

Then he got more criticism when he did call in police to reopen the campus. By contrast, USC senior administrators directed their campus security officers to clamp down on violations of its rules against overnight camping, said Assistant Chief David Carlisle of the Department of Public Safety, or DPS. He said his team, which numbered about 25 officers, warned students against camping and moved in to remove tents and sleeping bags when their orders to do so were ignored. He said the crowd became “hostile,” so campus authorities decided to call in the LAPD, which deployed nearly 100 officers and made the arrests. A federal court order that restricts San Francisco’s ability to clear street encampments of homeless people who have no where else to go will continue to stand as a broader debate on the issue plays out nationally. Individual artists and collectives have been using art to raise awareness of hostile design.

Regardless of their official intentions, these metal bars also curb people from lying down. Urban design can also be used to encourage positive behaviors in public spaces, including promoting social interaction and connection. For example, bike lanes and walkways can be established that connect diverse neighborhoods, and parks can be established with free water fountains, sufficient benches, and structures such as pavilions, children’s playgrounds, and restaurants. It is usually used for preventing damage to property, limiting particular uses of public space (such as preventing skateboarding), or stopping homeless people from sleeping or resting in public spaces. It has also been applied in service of segregation and racial discrimination.

There are also more subtle design elements such as locks on fire hydrants, which can particularly affect people in already-overheated poorer areas, and prevent them from cooling down on hot days. Historically, these techniques have been used to deter the homeless in big cities and keep the public out of public spaces. Hostile architecture is an urban design strategy that uses elements of the built environment to purposefully guide or restrict behavior in order to prevent crime and maintain order. Other examples of hostile design include studs or bolts installed on pavements in front of buildings (particularly areas under cover), diagonal bars fixed into the corners of walls and benches fitted with metal armrests or bars. In nearly all examples, it’s homeless people who feel the impact of the designs the most. One example is the Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, which has numerous amenities and park services, including what they describe as a “firm but fair” policy for handling park behavior.

One of the important things to remember in architecture training is that many of these objects tend to hide in plain sight, and public benches are often a great example. The Camden bench is one of the most well-known examples of defensive design and appeared in London in 2009. Its shape, material, and protective coating have made it anti-vandalism, anti-graffiti, Anti-theft, anti-litter, anti-sleeping, and anti-skateboarding. Additionally, leaning benches, which are bars or short shelves installed to rest against, but not sit on, also offer an example of hostile design.

Carlisle said the difference is that they are not violating bans on overnight camping. UC Davis Police Chief Joseph Farrow, who chairs the UC Council of Police Chiefs, said campuses generally favor a lenient approach to protests, including encampments, within reason. Zombie laws, in the hands of antiabortion zealots and the ultraconservative Supreme Court, are coming for more than abortion rights. Kevin Rector is a legal affairs reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering the California Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and other legal trends and issues. He started with The Times in 2020 and previously covered the Los Angeles Police Department for the paper. Before that, Rector worked at the Baltimore Sun for eight years, where he was a police and investigative reporter and part of a team that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in local reporting.

This topic has been generating more and more attention in recent years, especially in online journalism and blogging. Academic research is just beginning to catch up, with a few papers strewn across the journals of multiple disciplines. I was first made aware of hostile design several years ago when I was in Santa Cruz, California. The University of California at Santa Cruz was designed to prevent students from engaging in political protests and marches. The winding walkways and meeting spaces were specifically engineered to prevent an uprising.

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