#anti homeless architecture

[whereserpentswalk]

Fuck hostile architecture, I want unhostile architecture. I want benches to be designed to be as easy as possible to sleep on. I want little places for pigeons to nest to be purposefully put on buildings. I want people designing public spaces to think about what they'd be like to skateboard on. I want "Please loiter" signs. I want people to be kind. I want...

[victusinveritas]

[jingerpi]

cursed to be perpetually aware of

"transmisogyny targets trans women -> it also hurts trans men -> anti trans panic also hurts cis women"

"the US and Israel are commiting genocide in Gaza -> the genocide is also hurting Palestinian Christians and white tourists -> this war money could be better spent domestically"

"anti homeless architecture makes it illegal to live without a house -> it also hurts disabled people -> ableist structures also hurt abled people"

it's weird because with some of these there are genuine points to be made and it's worth discussing the full consequences of things but I can't help but be aware of the human-value-hierarchy implicit in these statements and how attention is always brought away from those who suffer most from their own oppression. it's not really surprising and it's 100% the system working as intended but you really start to see it everywhere once you look

[geekysteven]

[idrinkfrombuckets]

cute first date idea:

go to the park with a hacksaw and bolt cutters and remove all the anti-homeless architecture

[thebusylilbee]

I just learned today that a famous non-profit in France that helps homeless people has started organizing a few years ago an award ceremony for the worst anti-homeless devices that exist and it's called "The golden spike" 💀

[onlytiktoks]

https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article283855368.html

[pealeii]

Anti-homeless architecture is so funny to me. “Guys trust us we don’t cartoonishly hate homeless people” (it’s literally metal spikes)

[unmechanism]

I don't believe in hell, but if it turns out it exists, I know that people who design hostile architecture are rotting in there somewhere

[brother-u-stink]

Broooo incoming rant alert with caps ⬇️

Trying to sit in my local Whole Foods cafeteria, I buy a coffee and do some work on my computer and chill in the morning yk nothing wrong with that right? This SECURITY GAURD keeps HARASSING ME and being like “you only have 90 mins up here I see you here every day you CANNOT just stay up here” mind you the cafeteria is completely empty and I’m doing work and I’ve bought something. What is up with that comment btw “I’ve seen you here everyday…” can I not come here everyday? Are your profiling me bc I don’t have super fancy clothes on and you think I’m homeless? What tf is wrong with this world?? I’ve also been chilling for longer than 90 mins up here for weeks now and of course when it’s 35°f outside they are kicking people out 🤔🧐🤨 JUST SAY YOU HATE HOMELESS PEOPLE AND YOU WANT THEM TO FREEZE TO DEATH OUTSIDE. Fuck you dumbass mall cop GET A REAL FUCKING JOB and let me work in a PUBLIC SPACE in PEACE. Fuck.

I ain’t homeless btw I’m just trying to use a PUBLIC AREA AS A PAYING CUSTOMER. But it should fucking infuriate you that they put time limits and make public spaces hostile just for the sole purpose of threatening and making homeless peoples lives harder. This shit doesn’t just affect the homeless anymore it’s a war on all human beings.

Edit: I also live in a metropolitan city that has a high amount of homeless and black people so that’s why they are being like this.

[nando161mando]

They need to hear this!

[victusinveritas]

[silly-goobr]

I hate hostile architecture so much it’s ugly and it’s mean and my god is it ugly I want people to have safe spots to sleep and I want birds everywhere no matter how “unattractive” you think they are

[fight-for-our-futures]

Let’s Talk About Poverty And Homelessness.

Criminalization of homeless people is a wide spread problem across the united states. It’s illegal to be homeless in almost every state (48/50). And even without the criminalization, it is still ridiculously hard for homeless people to just EXIST. Anti-homeless architecture is taking over cities, making it near impossible for someone to sit on a bench or lay down to get some rest. Those that do get arrested.

Homelessness is something that affects a large portion of the united states population. while the majority of americans aren’t homeless, it is said that nearly 60% of americans live one pay check from homelessness (source below). So while homelessness is not directly affecting them, it is something that the majority of americans have to live with on their mind consistently.

The systemic issues of federal minimum wage, hard to access financial aid programs, and little to no aid programs in general is ridiculous and needs to end. For a country so dedicated to freedom and prosperity, 60% of the population should not be in fear of the streets.

In nearly all states, you would need to make $15/hr to just barely get buy. But the federal minimum wage, $7.25, has not changed in FIFTEEN YEARS. You’re making less than HALF of what you need to be. The percent increase in housing prices, however, is about 130%.

This is America, land of the free. Home of the brave. Country of “we don’t tax the 1% but the majority are near homeless”.

Like Tupac said, they’ve got money for wars but can’t feed the poor. Billions sent to israel and nothing for our people.

Take your “land of the free” bullshit and shove it where it belongs.

[ladybird-scribbles]

On the Death and Rebirth of Third Places

As is typical of the constant content cycle of the 2020s, recently my social media feeds became filled with discussions on the ideas of "Third Place" and "Third Space". This first began as a screencap of a Twitter thread, then video essays on YouTube, and SubStack articles on the loss of third places and the loneliness epidemic of today. Therefore, I decided to undertake a deep dive of these phenomena...

What is a Third Place?

Oftentimes third places and third spaces are confused, and used interchangeably, however occupy different meanings. We can attribute the concept of the Third Space to post-colonial critical theorist Homi K. Bhabha, who describes it as a metaphorical space of negotiation.

Paraphrasing Bhabha, the three forms of Space can be summarised thus:

First Space - direct spatial experience, physical spaces, such that can be measured

Second Space - spatial representation and the abstract

Third Space - the liminal inbetween, where ideas and people blend together.

The Third Place comes from a similar root concept, but focuses more on the physical space and activity rather than on the abstract. Originally coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place (1989) each Place is defined as such:

First Place - the home, someone's refuge, nest, and point of closest connection with others

Second Place - the workplace, where people spend most of their time

Third Place - congregational neutral ground, a mix between First and Second places that is both and neither.

Traditionally, the Third Place would be a community hub such as the church, or the local pub, as well as leisure spaces such as the library, sports grounds and social clubs. One might also consider shopping centres, cafes,

Hostility in Third Places:

A tweet by Salem @aWildSalem on Twitter - (who uses third space as the term rather than third place, but means the latter)

"People really built a society with no third spaces, made it illegal or unsafe to be outside, and then blamed phone use for making teenagers depressed. I've had this conversation with multiple parents. They want the phones to be the source of the problem because they don't want to admit that we have created a physical environment that is hostile to teenage existence."

It seems clear to me that this does not solely impact today's teenagers, but the entirety of society. Third spaces these days are typically either commercial or digital, both of which sets limitations on users and connections. A coffee shop could be considered a third space, however you still need to purchase something, e.g. a coffee, in order to justify using the space. Public parks are often home to hostile architecture discouraging lingering and loitering - decorative sculptural benches that become uncomfortable after a short period, or no seating at all, have become increasingly common in public spaces to discourage rough sleepers, which not only makes the space intentionally hostile to homeless people, but also to disabled people and to the elderly, who need spaces to sit. Therefore these public spaces become less appealing and more threatening for a significant number of citizens and these spaces limit opportunity for connection as we are pushed away from them.

On the flipside, in recent times there has been a growing an argument that social media is the new Third Place to combat the loss and degradation of physical Third Places. Arguably this can only apply to forums such as Discord, where curating an online community, rather than pushing products and services, is seen as the goal. Discord started as a server platform for gamers, with voice, video, and chat functions, creating a digital communal space like a club would but without the physical and spatial presence of said clubhouse - bringing people together from all across the world over shared interests who may otherwise have never met. Friendships and relationships blossom in the digital realm in ways that were not possible before the internet and instant communication. During the Covid-19 pandemic, digital third places became for many people the only communal space they could occupy without risk, as public spaces required social distancing and limits on numbers, and there was the ever-present risk of coronavirus. Forums and servers continue to provide safe spaces for communities who might otherwise be treated with hostility in the physical world.

The issue with this is that by not having visibility in the physical world, these communities can be pushed further away from it and further into online-only interactions.

Public Space and Performance

How much does your performance affect your perception of the space around you?

The Second Place is centred entirely around the idea of Performance - the workplace is where you are your most productive: creating, manufacturing, providing in order to earn a living and sustain yourself, in the hopes of more freedom as you work up the chain of command. This constant productivity also demands constant performance - in the service sectors, one must be polite, approachable, knowledgeable, well-dressed. For women this can mean a face of makeup and a structured bra, for example.

We return home to our First Place - makeup is wiped off, bra cast aside and discarded on the back of a chair, to be rediscovered tomorrow in a wild rush. We unmask into comfort after providing a Performance from approximately 8am to 5pm, depending on what "work" looks like. Longer, if we have to work overtime or face a lengthy commute.

Therefore, the Third Place is an inbetween of the two - we are naturally expected to behave well as this is a public realm, but how we present ourselves should be to our own comfort levels.

What intrigues me about these topics is not only the death of the Third Place, but the blurring between First and Second Places. Growing up, the idea of somebody working from home was a rare one - my father, a notable exception who worked from home before it was cool, still has his home office in the tiny box room I had once called mine as a toddler (the room still has the same blue carpet and the same farm animals dancing around on the wallpaper). He has worked from home for around 25 years now, and for most of that time, he was the only person I knew of who used home as a workspace. This all changed with Covid-19 and the pandemic - universities rushed to put their students into online learning, workplaces shuttered and sent employees home with laptops to eke out existence on the kitchen counter, surrounded by everyone else at home trying to do the same thing. Pure chaos, perhaps?

However, four years on hybrid working is a highly sought-after job attribute, and people appreciate the flexibility it gives them to avoid as much commuting and to spend much-needed time with loved ones. However, this has come at the expense of home privacy - where does "work" end and "home" begin if you are operating in the same series of rooms day-in, day-out? Does working from home make it harder to switch off from work-mode, and vice-versa? Working from home removes a significant chunk of the performance that office work requires - by this I mean dressing well, platitudes about how peoples' weekends were, listening to the standard radio station rather than playing your own music - although this can look different for everyone - however it also removes some of the connectivity that we need as adults which is harder to come by than when we were at school. In school, you made friends by proximity. In adulthood, that method of friendship seems far more rare. Some people may find their "work bestie" and it blossoms into true friendship, others see work colleagues as people they share a building with and that's the extent of it. Add to this hybrid working, and we see colleagues less frequently and have less chance to make meaningful connections with them. Gone are the conversations clustered around the water-cooler... and sometimes working from home means the only conversation someone might have is a five minute Teams call pushing for a project, where the receiver ends the call and thinks "That could have been an e-mail."

This all feeds back into the growing loneliness epidemic - loneliness was declared a "global public health concern" in the tail end of 2023. Covid-19 has accellerated what was already a burgeoning issue before the pandemic as we were de-socialised over a series of lockdowns.

Much of what I am exploring in this thinkpiece feeds back into each other in a loop - pushing people away from physical Third Places causes hostile environments which pushes people further away, for example. Children not having space to play can lead to lonely, isolated young adults who don't know how to connect in the real world.

On the other hand - I have hope that despite the odds communities persevere and grow, creating new Third Places for people to congregate. I am lucky enough to live in a town with a thriving craft scene, multiple book clubs, and a clear community spirit that has been evident for decades and that the town itself is very proud of. Believe me, it makes a massive difference.

FURTHER READING / VIEWING: - https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architectural-community/a10494-third-spaces-in-architecture-edward-soja/

Chapter 4, Section 4.4 and Chapter 5 in Foucault for Architects, Gordana Fontana-Giusti, 2013

Mina Le - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqjpuUJQFcM - "third places, stanley cup mania, and the epidemic of loneliness"

NotJustBikes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg - "The Great Places Erased by Suburbia (the Third Place)"

Elliot Sang - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ku9csXhvJY - "Nowhere to Go: The Loss of Third Places"

[chronicallycouchbound]

ID: glowing blue and green text on a black background reads: “our city glows when all our neighbors have homes”