Hostile architecture

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Bolts installed in the front steps of a building to discourage sitting and sleeping

Hostile architecture is an urban-design strategy that uses elements of the built environment to purposefully guide or restrict behaviour. It often targets people who use or rely on public space more than others, such as youth and homeless people, by restricting the physical behaviours they can engage in.^[1]

Also known as defensive architecture, hostile design, unpleasant design, exclusionary design, and defensive urban design, the term hostile architecture is often associated with "anti-homeless spikes" – studs embedded in flat surfaces to make sleeping on them uncomfortable and impractical. This form of architecture is most commonly found in densely populated areas.^[2][3] Other measures include sloped window sills to stop people sitting; benches with armrests positioned to stop people lying on them; water sprinklers that "intermittently come on but aren't really watering anything"; public trash bins with inconveniently small mouths to prevent the insertion of bulky wastes; cold-water-only taps in public toilets (with running-time limits so that they need to be activated repeatedly); fluffy and sticky thin toilet paper to prevent the clogging of toilet sewers.^[4][5] Hostile architecture is also employed to deter skateboarding, littering, loitering, and public urination.

Background[]

Although the term "hostile architecture" is recent, the use of civil engineering to achieve social engineering is not: antecedents include 19th century urine deflectors.^[6][7] Its modern form is derived from the design philosophy Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), which aims to prevent crime or protect property through three strategies: natural surveillance, natural access control, and territorial enforcement.^[8]

Consistent with the widespread implementation of defensible space guidelines in the 1970s, most implementations of CPTED as of 2004 were based solely upon the theory that the proper design and effective use of the built environment can reduce crime, reduce fear of crime, and improve quality of life. Built environment implementations of CPTED seek to dissuade offenders from committing crimes by manipulating the built environment in which those crimes proceed from or occur. The six main concepts according to Moffat are territoriality, surveillance, access control, image/maintenance, activity support and target hardening. Applying all of these strategies is key when trying to prevent crime in any neighborhood, crime ridden or not.^[9]

Boulders installed along a freeway ramp in Portland, Oregon, United States as a hostile architecture to deter transient camps.

Applications[]

The "Camden bench", used in London, has a design that is stated to discourage sleeping, littering, skateboarding, drug dealing, graffiti and theft

Camping deterrent[]

• Anti-homeless spikes in London, England to prevent homeless activity.^[10]

• Seattle, Washington, United States city government installed bicycle racks to prevent homeless people from camping.^[11][12]
• Since 2013, the Oregon Department of Transportation in Oregon, United States deployed large boulders at eight locations that had been the site of transient camps in Portland. These boulders were installed to deter illegal camping near the freeways.^[13]

Sleeping deterrent[]

Camden Borough Council in London commissioned concrete-block benches (dubbed "Camden benches") designed to discourage uses such as sleeping, skateboarding and placing stickers.^[6][14]

Urination deterrent[]

Public reception[]

Opponents to hostile architecture in urban design states that such architecture makes public spaces hostile to the public themselves and especially targets the transient and homeless populations.^[15] Proponents say it is necessary to maintain order and safety and deter unwanted behaviors such as sleeping, loitering and skateboarding.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018, British artist Stuart Semple created a social media public awareness campaign encouraging the public to place identifying stickers on instances of hostile design in their environment.^[16][17][18]

Examples of hostile architecture circulating within UK media have led to negative reception. The Joseph Rowntee Foundation warned that homelessness in London is rising significantly faster than the nationwide average.^{[citation needed]} Nonetheless, types of hostile architecture have increased. For example, Selfridges in Manchester installed metal spikes outside for the purpose of reducing “litter and smoking," which suggests hostile architecture may be implicated for one reason but explained by another.^[19]

Gallery[]

• 

  Spikes added around fountain in Government Center, Miami, in 2011 at downtown transit center

• 

  Ledge with skatestoppers preventing skateboarders from grinding

• 

  Spikes on a ledge in Boston to prevent sleeping or sitting

• 

  Spiked handrail, presumably preventing users from sliding down

See also[]

• Architecture terrible
• Area denial weapon
• Bird control spike
• Defensible space theory
• Defensive design
• Disciplinary architecture
• Functionalism (architecture)
• Long-time nuclear waste warning messages

References[]

External links[]

• Cara Chellew, Bars, barriers and ghost amenities: Defensive urban design in Toronto Torontoist.
• Lloyd Alter, Hostile design doesn't work for any age group Mother Nature Network.
• Cara Chellew, Defensive Inequalities Spacing Magazine.
• "When Design Is Hostile On Purpose". Popsci. Popsci. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
• HostileDesign.org, Project homepage of Stuart Semple sticker campaign.