What are your thoughts on hostile architecture?

[Smashingdoozy]

Hostile architecture is architecture designed to prevent homeless people from having a place to shelter or sleep

Sometimes it can be subtle like arm rests across a bench. Sometimes they pose as art like this kangaroo lazing on a bench.

Sometimes they even are disguised as accessible.

So what are your thoughts?

[MrOracle]

The US and much of the west has a serious problem with allowing the Left to apply and define terms to things that are incorrect, and then we adopt that false language, and thus participate in the delusion.

MOST of the US's "homeless" problem is not a homeless problem, it's a drug and/or alcohol addiction problem or a mental health problem. Yes, there ARE some people who are legitimately homeless purely for financial reasons, for whom a relatively small amount of assistance would put them right back into being productive members of society, and, yes, those people should be helped. But they are the exception.

The real issue is that the mentally ill who are beyond the care of their families need to be institutionalized, and addicts need to be given the choice of work farms or rehab. Allowing people to steal during the day so they can shoot up all night is absolutely insane, as is calling such people "homeless" as if the lack of a house to sleep in is their primary problem.

If we were much tougher on addicts, none of this hostile architecture would need to exist - but instead, we spend untold millions on hostile architecture because we as a society refuse to acknowledge or deal with the root causes of these problems because it makes us "uncomfortable." It's disgusting.

[Smashingdoozy]

While I agree more needs to be done to help people on the street, creating hostile architecture benefits nobody. It's quite literally making it "out of sight out of mind"

[MrOracle]

It actually DOES help people - that's why it's done - but it's also an inconvenience to everyone and a huge waste of money, and is only addressing a symptom, which is stupid. The correct way to deal with any problem is to fix the root cause, because when you do that, the symptoms go away on their own.

Unfortunately, there aren't enough of the people who are impacted to vote for policies that would address the root cause, so symptom solutions like hostile architecture are the only means many people and small businesses have to defend themselves and their property.

[Smashingdoozy]

How does hostile architecture help people?

[MrOracle]

Let's say you own a business - a coffee shop, or a deli, or whatever. If you wake up one day and there are people sleeping outside the entrance of your store, or worse, drunk and belligerent or on drugs, do you imagine that's going to have an impact on your business? Of course it does; lots of potential customers are going to pass your business right by, and if this continues for very long, you will be out of business - often resulting in the loss of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of your loss of income.

Hostile architecture can help keep such people from congregating around your store. Or around the entrance to transit, or whatever.

That doesn't mean I like it, and if problems were addressed correctly, it wouldn't be necessary, but since problems are NOT addressed correctly, hostile architecture is often the only effective solution available.

[loveslongnails]

I agree with you, doozy. It just kicks the can down the street.

[loveslongnails]

As your narrative often goes, every ill in the land is due to the "Left" in one form or another. So let me remind you that it was "Congress" and State Legislators that over the past 30 years have slowly defunded Federal and State mental institutions. It was "Congress" who cuts budgets for drug rehab programs and facilities, sometimes because the same old, same old wasn't working, but they replaced it with... absolutely nothing... so people are back on the streets.

What you DO say that's correct is "we as a society refuse to acknowledge or deal with the root causes of these problems because it makes us "uncomfortable." It's disgusting." However, what you don't acknowledge except to "Left blame", which makes no sense after you point out "we as a SOCIETY" (left, right, middle) is that this failure comes in the form of the laws we pass.

You can move the problem from one locale to another, and hostile architecture will facilitate that, but it does nothing to solve, remedy or even address the cause.

[Kaneki05]

Seems good? As someone is practically homeless why on earth would I sleep on a bench in the open anyway?
Thing called abandoned buildings they make much better positions to sleep in, there's an abandoned pub near here I would just go live in there if I was kicked out again, it can easily be entered from what I've seen.
Then another example is there is abandoned garages and I've been in one before it seems like a much better place than under a junction. There is also a Mill, a couple houses, a big building directly in town that's just been left all graffitied up for decades showing there is a clear way to get in it and up there.
These all seem like better spots and that's without me even really looking.

There is also parks many of them have good places to bunker down and no one will bother you. Buy a tent as well. So all in all I think this just helps as it could encourage them to find better places, I know most won't cause dumb but ya never know.

[Kaneki05]

Also if somehow one can't find a spot like this somehow though they exist everywhere?
Just go to prison, commit crimes steal and rob all day. Then one has a home.

[petitedollbabee]

Waste of council time and tax payers money. If they hate the homeless so much, maybe try to support them in not being homeless, rather than building stupid benches and spiky rest areas.

[avery58]

No matter the reasons why the person is in those conditions, it just doesn't seem right to do that. I would even say it's cruel.

[Lynx122]

It's silly. They've done studies that show it's actually cheaper for the government just to house these people and help them reintegrate instead of dealing with all the consequences of homelessness but people don't seem to care. You're spending money just to make things worse not just for homeless people but also other "functional" people. Benches are supposed to be there for multiple people to sit down and now they can't because you put a stupid kangaroo on it.

[Smashingdoozy]

Facts! Why do I gotta straddle a kangaroo to rest my feet!

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

My thoughts: It does tell how much money a society is ready to spend to actively mask a problem created by the same society.

Voilà.

[Smashingdoozy]

Ooooh this is gooood

[Still-alive]

right they don't want us asking questions like 'are wages actually liveable here tho?' or 'maybe the minimum wage does need to be raise' or maybe to go even further 'maybe our capitalist system does need to be regulated heavily!'

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

preaching to the converted :D
This is gonna be another thread opposing the same two political philosophies I suppose lol

[Nik1hil]

Hostile architecture ❌Torture devices ✅

It's devil's work.

Human's take care and support and love other humans.

The amount of money wasted on hostile design of a fucking Kangaroo can be collected and use to build affordable homes for such people.

[SixFootSexy]

I recommend this documentary, Why Beauty Matters: https://vimeo.com/549715999

Why should art and architecture be beautiful? Can't we just make anything and call it art?

[Smashingdoozy]

I'm not sure what relevance this has?

[SixFootSexy]

He talks about brutalist architecture in the doc.

[exitseven]

This is what happens when the police are not allowed to do their jobs. There are laws against public intoxication, vagrants, drug dealing and public urination. The cops could easily arrest them until they move on. We never saw tent cities like this in the 70s.

[Smashingdoozy]

So you want people to be arrested for being homeless? 🤔 I mean it's a great Idea really... They'll be provided food, shelter, clean water...

[exitseven]

If they are not allowed to set up camps on public property they will get themselves into shelters or better yet find jobs and get off the streets

[Smashingdoozy]

How are they going to find a job?

[exitseven]

There was an ad today in Facebook marketplace. Some guy was paying 250 a day to help him move his business. He needed two guys for a week. There Atmore quite a few of those kind of jobs around.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

@exitseven "We never saw tent cities like this in the 70s."

Could it be because... Economic growth is not how it used to be, could it be because we got hit by several crisis, financial, existential, stock speculation, climate and so on?

Could. It. Be.
I wonder...
😏

[exitseven]

@Maybe_Maybe_not or may be democrats getDAs that ignore small crimes. Liberal policies usually are the root of many of our policies. You don't see this in states like Florida.

[Smashingdoozy]

Odd jobs aren't stable income. You can't get a home without stable income.

[exitseven]

It is a start. The truth is that there are just people who can't imagine having to get up e ery day and go to a job, then get up and do the same thing the next day. I worked with somebody like that. He was the owners nephew and he just could not show up in time.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

@exitseven
Ofc yes, you can blame any random political party from any random country for planet wide global crisis since 50 years, I suppose it's a way to make sure the bigger picture never hits you then lol

[exitseven]

@Maybe_Maybe_not There has been a trend for people to not want to take personal responsibility for their lives. I do not know if it is because parents are too hands on or that kids are coddled but by the time they should be self sufficient they cannot deal with it.
Everyone expects the government to solve all their problems. The government is often the source of the problem.

[ChicoFromThe305]

Pretty messed up shit, I like the hostility of it, hate the purpose, it's messed up cause meanwhile they open the borders to let immigrants in and even gave em places to live and stuff meanwhile we got some of our own civilians sleeping on the streets getting the bench they call home taken from them with shitty and pointless art or eye gouging designs.

[Still-alive]

terrible. it basically just outright tell tells poor homeless folks 'we hate you, go away!'

[Nirmroth]

I think its fine would love if it gets implemented more in parks/trainstations/puplic places etc.

I saw how those tent camps look under bridges and its pretty unsafe for both the homeless living there and the cars that drive by.

[DJB72]

Politicians who permit this kind of thing should be forced to spend six months sleeping rough. Preferably winter months and in the rain.

[Nikki1989]

It is stupid and offensive at the same time.

[NathanDavis]

hostile... not only to humans...

sadness, awarded...

[Wiredone]

They are designed to keep people from setting up shelter in public places. If the government stopped sending money overseas and spent it here to help homeless people, there wouldn't be any homeless people

[RavVid]

I like the benches. Fully support making environments hostile to the homeless.

[Smashingdoozy]

Why?

[RavVid]

The homeless are homeless because they prefer drugs to housing, where I am. They could have housing if they were willing to make a small payment but they prefer to put every $ they get to drugs.

Council put in public seating and I thought I would see if they sere comfortable. I immediately had a homeless guy aggressively approach me demanding payment for sitting on 'his' seat.

Unfortunately Council does not permit police to move them on and instead encourages it in a number of ways. .

[DryGermanGuy]

It's so typical to invest in fighting the symptoms, instead of the (politicized) root causes.

[LiamJHayden]

I find the underpass pretty stupid. Imagine an emergency where the vehicles need to be detoured.

[Smashingdoozy]

Frankly they're all stupid

[Friendlybro79]

I think if this were in the US that red states would love it because it perfectly speaks to their christian faith.

[DerekC321]

I love it. There is a kind of architecture called "Brutalism" that is really cool

[Smashingdoozy]

You... Love it?

[DerekC321]

You've never heard the expression?

[DerekC321]

When you say "you love something", what you mean is you really like it. Like "I loved that book" or "I love ice cream". I love that architecture, it's like art.

[Smashingdoozy]

You love architecture that prevents people from getting shelter? That forces people to be exposed to elements? Interesting...

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

@derekc321
Gotta love the unintended (?) dual meaning of brutalism here

[Benedict234]

I love the architecture those pics remind me of, but no, I don't like what is in those particular pics, specifically. The above are like those anti-pigeon things you see in the metro, except for human beings. So no thanks, not okay

[gatixek710]

I think it's good. Enabling homeless to make public spaces disgusting is a detriment to society.

[JamesRandiDebates]

I've never heard if it, but I fully support the concept.

[Smashingdoozy]

Why?

[JamesRandiDebates]

Keep out the riffraff.

[Account]

It makes me want to cry in anger and despondency.

[msc545]

Sucks.