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...
Hostile architecture: a problem for over a century. And remember, if you see those bars on a bench near you, get a high-vis vest, a clipboard and a wrench and act like you have better things to do than to remove these on your day off. Plus, if you bring 'em to a recycling center afterwards, it's easy money.
[ID: Two railroad workers in a station house find a man who's somehow managed to stick himself underneath the metal armrests on a bench to lie down flat and sleep. A burly station man with a mustache rolls up his sleeve, readying himself to brutalize the guy out of his slumber. An older station man with glasses and a white mustache stops him. /end]
Older Station Man: Let 'im alone! Anybody at'll pull a stunt like that needs all the rest he can get.
People need to get serious about how road safety massively impacts just about everything people hate about modern society, including anti homeless measures, inaccessibility, dehumanization of workers, ugly design, and unwalkable cities (and I don’t know why disabled people and people who want walkable cities are being put against each other when roads are SAFER for car dependent disabled people and paths are SAFER for non driving disabled people in alternative designs that are actually good), and so, so much more
US politicians want 16 year olds working 30 hour work weeks and those of us already working now to work until we’re 72. high school dropouts unable to vote (while being taxed) being additional cogs in the machine. now think about abortion bans and lack of sex education. think about those wanting to get rid of birth control. think about those currently revising history. think about those who are banning books. US political leaders want us to be dumb breeding machines to further their own economic wealth. all while keeping us dumb, hungry, homeless, sick, and complacent.
They are curved and on a slight angle away from the wall. We all know this is just anti homeless architecture and that is evil enough in in of itself but....
This makes all these benches fucking useless for me and I assume a lot of others with similar issues aswell.
Let me explain
I have chronic pain in my feet and these benches just aren't places to really sitt for me.
Why?
Because the whole time I have to support my weight with my feet if I wana sit on this type of bench. Meaning I can't rest if I sit there because it's still hurting my feet because I still have to put quite some weight on them.
That means if it's not too wet or filthy I sometimes just ignore any dirt and dust and just sit on the floor.
As if there was no bench at all.
And I can't be the only one with these issues. I assume a lot of people with back, foot, leg or joint problems have similar issues. And it's so simple! A Normal bench would solve this issue. Plus it would be waaaay more comfortable for everyone
This type of anti homeless architecture isn't just hurting the homeless its hurting a whole lot more people who lose their ability to use this infrastructure.
Anti-Homeless Architecture is a Tax Dollar Black Hole
Why pay for this:
When we could pay for something more like this:
Or, you know, HOUSING the HOMELESS. As someone who has done construction, it REALLY doesn't cost that much to build a house. You could probably get volunteers to help, too. This is NOT that hard. Politicians are just greedy and (nonconsensually) sadistic. They use weaponized incompetence and are purposefully obtuse.
The Venn diagram of people who freak out at autistic kids for "wasting food" by being "picky eaters" and people who think stores have a right to punish dumpster divers is a circle.
Absolutely wild the amount of self described Christians out here just outright cheering for homeless people to die. There are a lot of things that are very un-christian that many christians say and do without a hint of self-reflection, but the amount of direct instruction to help the less fortunate in the bible is immense. It is one of the most advocated for things in the text that they supposedly follow, yet they can't seem to get behind that or anything else in that book they never read.
Almost like they're only religious so that they can feel good and moral while they rage against the less fortunate.