Summary
Hostile designs and architecture make everyone feel unwelcome in public places
Have you ever waited at a bus stop without anywhere to sit? They usually have these weird, small, sloped benches where you can neither sit nor lean. It all just feels very awkward.
Or have you noticed the long spikes on buildings to prevent birds from nesting? What about raised plant beds, that seemingly provide green foliage and somewhere to sit, but with their curved top discourage sleeping on them?
These are hostile designs and they’re all around us. And once you understand this type of architecture and design, its predominant function, and how abundant it is you’ll never be able to un-see it.
The meaning of hostile architecture and design
The style of our urban jungles has synchronised, and the modern architecture is nearly identical across cities. The designs, whose inherent attribution is hostile, are not meant to be noticeable – not to everybody at least.
And these public spaces are temporary. They are not meant as places where you will spend a long amount of time, so there is no reason to make it comfortable or accommodating, because you will not occupy the space for long enough to either notice or for it to be a prominent issue.
Perhaps it is annoying and inconvenient in that moment, but then you are quickly encouraged to leave the space. These are places such as parks, public bathrooms, walkways, and other public spaces.
You don’t really notice these hostile designs until you’ve experienced the opposite. They have become so abundant and normalised that the assumption is that that must be how things are supposed to look.
On a recent trip, I had a seven-hour layover at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Naturally, during such a long stay I frequented the women’s restroom quite a few times.
And let me say: these are the best women’s restrooms I have ever used. There was space and large enough hangers in the stalls to put my things on and attached to the mirror above each faucet, soap dispenser and dryer there was a little shelf where I could put my jewellery while I washed my hands.
The reaction to this kind of excitement over a restroom might be to laugh in disbelief. But when you are used to not being accommodated; used to having to put your things on the ground, phones, jackets, everything; and used to spaces that are wholly uninviting, suddenly seeing a space catered to your needs is wonderful.
Why would you purposely design things badly?
At its core hostile designs are implemented to restrict certain behaviours and people from accessing those certain spaces.
To give some concrete examples: surfaces with bolts or ridges to discourage skaters (often young people), benches with slopes or armrests in the middle to discourage homeless people from sleeping on them, or no flat surfaces in public bathrooms to discourage drug use.
Fear and the feeling of being unsafe are big players in the design of community spaces. Councils and politicians often justify these design choices by reasoning that they reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. But in reality, it only makes things more difficult for people who already have it difficult.
Not to mention that it ignores the underlying problems. Excluding certain groups of people from public spaces is discrimination, and hostile architecture has its roots in race segregation in the US.
The inequity of hostile spaces not only affects the non-preferred users but extends to all users. A space that excludes one group becomes a little less inviting to the public and ultimately unwelcome to everyone else too.
Featured Image Credit: news.com.au
Fourth year English and Journalism student and Comment editor. Talk to me about fashion, culture, language and media.
