The Supreme Court's homelessness decision could backfire on California Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• Desire lines and defensive architecture in modern urban environments
• MassArt’s 2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition Opens in Boston’s SoWa Arts District
• The World's Most Beautiful Public Toilet
• This artist holds a blackbelt in karate. She’s also a hotelier, philanthropist, and a social entrepreneur.
• Abcarian: I wanted to hate what UC Berkeley parents are doing in the name of safety, but I can’t
• Hostile design is still a problem in our public spaces – here’s why

On the corner of 17th St. and Washington Ave. sits Soundscape Park and newly built concrete balls on the benches surrounding the park to clearly prevent the homeless population from resting. In 2008, German sculptor Fabian Brunsing created the Pay & Sit bench as a form of artistic protest against commercialized public spaces. In order to sit down, users have to insert 0.50 € into a coin slot; once the allotted time runs out, small spikes rise from the seat’s bottom, forcing users to move.

Desire lines and defensive architecture in modern urban environments

It was his recent encounter with benches in his hometown of Bournemouth, though, that provoked him to launch a public campaign against hostile designs. Semple, witnessing the speed at which the information spread and amplified, decided to broaden his agenda and encourage others to join him in calling out hostile public designs. I also did a tour around Vancouver where, for example, Granville street’s redesign for the 2010 Winter Olympics features a lot of unpleasant classics – separate sitting chairs, anti-sleeping benches, anti-terrorist bins. The use of unpleasant designs to discourage sleeping and loitering is so widely spread around the globe that it becomes almost necessary wherever homelessness appears. It is not typical of Canadian cities, especially given that the climate does not favour homelessness very much.

MassArt’s 2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition Opens in Boston’s SoWa Arts District

His ongoing, longterm collaboration with the city of Denver has particularly pushed him to consider friendly urban design and think about the intentions behind the shaping of public space, he said. Titled “Happy City” and forthcoming in May, the citywide project will feature a number of interventions that alter busy sites such as train stations, in attempts to break down social barriers. While it may be more of a rarity, Sklar provided a great example of this hostile architecture in full form in nearby Miami Beach.

The World's Most Beautiful Public Toilet

Almost like a form of aikido— using their opponents’ strengths against them. At Yale, some Jewish students thought the protests turned hostile toward them. The encampments and protests are students’ attempt to focus attention on the Gaza Strip. After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory war, according to the Gaza health authorities. Published 11 times a year, Hospitality Design magazine is the premier trade outlet and voice for the hospitality design industry.

This artist holds a blackbelt in karate. She’s also a hotelier, philanthropist, and a social entrepreneur.

Maybe we should hide them but it's easier and more cruel to remove the spots they can sleep. Sleep being a basic human need but not a human right.One day the city tells you you can't sleep, there's no place for you to sleep. It starts when we, set and having what we can less and less afford, start de-humanizing others and making that ok. Maybe there was a quasi-ornamental railing preventing you from kicking up your feet and stretching out?

Opinion: Hostile architecture and the death of public spaces - Minnesota Daily

Opinion: Hostile architecture and the death of public spaces.

Posted: Thu, 07 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Public benches and tables now removed need to be reinstalled for the public to enjoy once again. Matusow said Sunday in a phone conservation that 18 years later, homeless people and criminals are still frightening pedestrians in the area. The city also replaced benches at some bus stops with concrete stools that can accommodate only a single person. This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Hostile architecture isn’t helping anybody - Daily Trojan Online

Hostile architecture isn’t helping anybody.

Posted: Fri, 16 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Pro-Palestinian encampments are spreading across U.S. colleges. What are the students demanding?

In Mumbai, anti-homeless spikes have been removed from outside a prominent bank building; in Seattle, anti-homeless bike racks were removed by the Department of Transportation; and crucially for Semple, Bournemouth Borough Council have removed the bars on its benches. But hostile architecture, in New York and other cities, has increasingly drawn a backlash from critics who say that such measures are unnecessary and disproportionately target vulnerable populations. They have assailed what they call “anti-homeless spikes” for targeting those who have nowhere else to go at a time when many cities are grappling with a homelessness crisis. Rosenberger notes that hostile architecture is often (though not always) being carried out by “powerful people putting in the design to stop the behaviors of the less powerful people,” limiting the uses of public space for already-disadvantaged groups.

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Most of us prefer physical spaces that offer views of green vistas over windowless basements. Studies of patients who viewed trees outside the window recovered more quickly from hospital stays. Also, bringing flowers can increase optimism and may actually improve the rate of recovery. The relationship between stress and uncultivated outdoor settings may play a role in this.

Hostile design is still a problem in our public spaces – here’s why

The Design Council has strengthened its position on city design recently, launching an inclusive environment CPD course earlier this year. Horwill says the course is intended to make people more aware and enthusiastic about inclusive design. When your neighbour has anti-pigeon spikes – the tiny spikes you put on window seals or rooftops to prevent pigeons form landing – you have to install them too, otherwise all pigeons will land on your property.

Sometimes these elements masquerade as art while other times they are obviously hostile. Regardless of their physical appearance, each shares the quality of making spaces less open and accessible. Camden benches are just one instance of seats that are designed specifically to prevent certain behaviors. Others include benches with large arm rests segmenting the bench into pieces to prevent homeless people from lying down, or heavily-sloped surfaces so that they can only be leaned on.

Classic research in social psychology tells us that one way to motivate attitude change and bring disparate groups together is to introduce superordinate goals. These are goals that require effort from members of both sides to be successful. Horwill says questioning briefs is a good place to start – asking what exactly is the problem needing to be solved. “It’s a dangerous process to start from the end of exclusion,” she says, adding that any number of groups who rely on spaces to sit or rest – the elderly, people with disabilities, young families, for example – could also be caught up in the process of excluding the homeless. Atkinson says what is needed and what the reality is are often miles apart.