Hostile Architecture: How Cities Are Designed To Control Your Behavior

[mfcorey1]

Picture this: You’re out for a walk in your local park, and you start to feel a bit tired.

Fortunately, you see that there’s a bench nearby. You sit down, catch your breath, and enjoy the fresh air. You’re so comfortable that you almost drift off—and, in the process, you almost fall off of the bench. The sloped surface won’t hold you for long. In fact, it’s slightly uncomfortable. You start to get a bit angry: why would the city pay for such a shoddily designed bench?

https://www.urbo.com/content/hostile-architecture-how-cities-are-designed-to-control-your-behavior/

[sky rot]

1. Everything is a commodity.

vimeo.com/1665301

[dembotoz]

2. Artistic assholes

I live where ice is common. If I slip fall and impale myself on one of those spikes can I see the fuck out of the property owner?

[marble falls]

3. Its just the devious and causal heartlessness of it.

[global1]

4. I Always Thought They Made Church Pews Uncomfortable To....

prevent one from falling asleep in church.

[sl8]

5. K&R

Related video:

Unpleasant Design - When Bad Design is Used to Hide Problems - Extra Credits
Extra Credits

Published on Apr 18, 2018

Sometimes bad design is created intentionally, to cover up a flaw in the system instead of fixing it. Using cities like Seattle and London as examples, we examine how architecture is designed to remove homeless people from the public eye without actually helping them.

...

[Sherman A1]

6. Not really a surprise

one only need look around and it becomes rather obvious.

[Kilgore]

7. So whats the real answer?

San Francisco seems to be one of the most progressive cities when it comes to helping the homeless and they cant seem to make it work. For example,

Tolerant San Francisco fed up with dirty, smelly streets
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/01/tolerant-san-francisco-fed-up-with-dirty-smelly-streets/

Some SF streets filthier than world’s poorest slums, says UC Berkeley professor
https://sf.curbed.com/2018/2/19/17029308/trash-needles-feces-san-francisco-streets-dirty-hazard

Diseased Streets
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Diseased-Streets-472430013.html

So whats the answer?

I live near Portland Oregon and every time I visit the city, it seems to be heading the way of San Francisco. Why? Whats changed? You cant tell me Portland is not a progressive, compassion filled city.

As a society we need to deal with this issue quickly and compassionately otherwise we descend into camps of residents wanting a clean safe city, and camps of homeless and their advocates arguing for sleepable park benches. In my opinion this is at the root of the examples in the article.

I have no answer, but do know that my interest in visiting SF and Portland, two cities that I have really enjoyed, has almost disappeared. Last time in SF was simply stinky and scarey. Portland is not far behind.

Probably have touched some raw nerves. My asbestos underpants are firmly in place.

[shanny]

8. If we really want to help the homeless AND save money,

we need to give them free housing. Upfront, not after they've dried out / cleaned up / found a job, before. Of course, that would require a society that cares about the vulnerable.

[lostnfound]

9. Solution - Housing First, Utah

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah/

[NCTraveler]

10. I have worked on a college campus design.

So much of it was about control. It's a part of any good planning. Sometimes it goes too far. Sometimes not far enough.

[SWBTATTReg]

11. All of the places w/ the most homeless seem to be more warmer ...

than the average US locations. Thus, a desire to live in these areas, simply because it's more warmer.

So some of the problems of being homeless is caused by rapidly increasing home prices, causing more and more people to not be able affordable shelters and be thrown out into the streets.

That's one of the disadvantages of living in such an environment where everything is always for sale and/or profit. A whole segment of the population is then bypassed / forgotten (the elderly too, besides the homeless) as neighborhoods get remodeled/more pricier, real estate taxes constantly on the increase, and cities, instead of helping their residents stay in their homes, seem to favor developers and the like, not worrying about a major portion of their population while pushing economic developers, who always claim benefits that are oftentimes way overstated.

Tragic. A lot of the problems are caused by those who claim that economic development is the cure all, when in fact, it's improperly administered economic development and its impact on its citizens that cause a lot of the long term problems.