Imagine having nowhere to go, and in every place, you think of sleeping, a spike stops you from sitting or lying down. This is what the homeless must deal with. This is called hostile architecture.
What is hostile architecture?
Hostile architecture, or defensive architecture, is a design used in public spaces to stop people from being there and doing certain activities, one of the main ones being sleeping.
This type of design is not only used and aimed at restricting homeless people from staying in certain places such as big cities, subways, parks, etc. But also, can affect pregnant women or people with disabilities.
How it affects people with disabilities and pregnant women is they are given limited space to move and sit in. Spikes on the floor can cause harm to people in wheelchairs and pop their wheels. This type of design is designed against humanity.
Hostile architecture is more subtle in public than we think. Such as, park benches having a pole between them so people can’t lay, or poles and spikes on sidewalks so people can’t sit.
How it affects homeless people
Hostile architecture has several negative effects as it creates a sense that homeless people aren’t welcome in many places and makes it harder for them to survive because they can’t find a place to sleep. It pushes homeless people farther away from their “homes” which can be near places for them to get the support and help that they need.
Since the homeless rate has started to rise due to inflation, hostile architecture continues to become a bigger problem. It is progressively getting harder and harder for people to find a place to sleep at night and stay warm. According to the National Alliance to END HOMELESSNESS the rate of unsheltered homelessness has gone up about 132% in Broward County.
Public opinion (Pro- Homeless)
Most people are filled with outrage throughout many cities because local governments are choosing to go with hostile designs as their way of relieving homelessness. Homelessness
is a national epidemic, and many people agree that hostile architecture is just making a horrible situation worse.
Local communities also believe that a hostile design makes their cities uninviting and unwelcoming. According to Daily Trojan “Ultimately, it is clear that to people experiencing
homelessness, their “home” on the streets doesn’t feel warm, comfortable or caring. It makes homeless people feel like they don’t belong anywhere.
Hostile architecture takes the point away from free and public places that underprivileged people can enjoy. Some people feel as if the design also takes away from the original creativity and beauty of the architecture itself.
When 12th-grade student Maddison Brown was asked if she believed homeless people should be able to sleep in public places, she said, “I think it is cruel to stop people from sleeping in places they feel safe, they already have nowhere else to go.”
Public opinion (anti-homeless)
While homelessness is a major issue in America and around the world, hostile architecture can be looked at as a softer approach to show that many people’s storefronts or commercial businesses are not places to sleep.
To some people, hostile architecture is a great idea. Many people view the homeless population as a threat to public safety. This is because of the many mental health issues that plague this population, so they rather not see their parks, storefronts, streets, or tourist places filled with homeless people loitering, soliciting, or sleeping.
Many people view homelessness as a plague in their city, and because of this people feel that using hostile design is an effective way to keep people from using public places incorrectly. Many even believe that it adds to the beauty of the architecture that is already in place while minimally solving a problem that is bigger than the architecture of the building. When 10th-grade student Oliva Menedez was asked if she thought homeless people should be able to sleep public places she said, “Homeless people should sleep at shelters that are given to them by the cities, I do not want to go to the park and see a homeless people sleeping in tents.”
Unfortunately, hostile architecture isn’t going away any time soon. Since there are so many different standpoints on this argument, it has been extremely difficult to find a solution that would satisfy everyone.
