Passing through the city, you’ve likely already encountered urbanization’s newest beasts.
Today’s subway benches are segmented with restrictive metal rails. Bathrooms are blocked by keypads. Public spaces are littered with bizarre spikes and humps that can’t possibly lend themselves to comfort. These design features clearly don’t aim for convenience–so what’s the point of making a seat less comfortable, or a park less enjoyable?
Hostile architecture–also known as defensive architecture, anti-homeless architecture, or exclusionary design–has taken over urban areas worldwide. City and town infrastructure is increasingly devised with the primary purpose of barring people from rest, warping public spaces to a point beyond functionality. And recent schemes aren’t always as obvious as oblong benches or spikes in the pavement. Businesses blare loud, repetitive noise with the express intention of “vacating the homeless.” Others flash persistent lights. Several establishments employ sprinklers that periodically set off to “water” nothing but barren concrete. Even the placement of shrubs, as seemingly sporadic as it may be, can point to malicious intent. For anyone looking to lie down or so much as take a seat, the city is a playground of belligerent contraptions each sending the same message: humans are not welcome here.
The objective of these dystopian measures is reduced accessibility, particularly for people experiencing homelessness. But such design features often disturb elderly and disabled people in addition to their intended targets. The rapid implementation of exclusionary design is a plague upon our towns and cities; one that preys upon already-marginalized populations without mercy.
While the terminology for this phenomenon is relatively new, the concept’s been around for centuries. Hostile architecture has been weaponized as a means of bolstering racial and economic segregation as far back as the 1800s. It’s no coincidence that the use of civil engineering for violence came into fashion alongside attacking minorities. Though, the latest victims of this trend may not be in the minority for long: housing prices are soaring, and so is the number of unhoused Americans. Precarious living conditions lie at the end of a slope that gets slipperier with each day. And all the while, money is poured into erecting anti-human benches rather than making a difference.
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