This photo is in downtown Eugene and is an example of hostile design because the bike racks and plants are placed strategically on the sidewalk to prevent homeless camping outside of this business. This is similar to the example that we saw in class, with the bikes racks under the bridge placed there to prevent homeless people from camping or gathering there. The reason I think that this is hostile design instead of an accident is because there are an excessive number of bike racks, and the placement of plants and bike racks strategically leaves zero room for homeless people to camp.
Highlighted bike racks and planters occupying sidewalk
Bike racks and planters occupying sidewalk
These bike racks are a good form of hostile design and do prevent the space being occupied by the unhoused population.
These bike racks are definitely not an accident. Those were placed there purposely for the whole purpose of mainatining unhouse people outside of the street and force them to go somewhere else. Because they are forced to move themselves closer to the storefronts but there are examples of hostile design in there also so they cannot camp in the middle of the street.
This a very smart and very subtle way of deterring homeless people from setting up tents along the street. I never noticed it until you pointed it out.
This is definitely a good hostile design to prevent unhoused people camping on the street, especially it is located at downtown Eugene which has a large number of population of unhoused people. Also, the bike racks can be a barrier to separate the roads and sidewalks to prevent hurting from cars.
I think that this is a good example of implicit hostile architecture. To most people passing by, they might assume this is just for parking bikes. But these bike racks clearly take up more space than necessary, which does prevent for the installment of tents.
Now that I am aware of hostile design. This one is so obvious, because never will there be that much need for so many bike racks in that one area. It was obviously just placed there to prevent the houseless from sleeping/loitering in that area.
I would’ve never thought of this as hostile design before this class, but now that I’m aware of the sneaky ways hostile design is implemented in public spaces I see it everywhere. This is definitely an implicit form of hostile design aimed at deterring unhoused people away from these storefronts. Good job catching this one!
I definitely agree that this unnecessary amount of bike racks along the street are considered a hostile design decision. These bike racks also ensure that Eugene keeps its image of being ‘clean’ and welcoming by ensuring that the downtown streets are not lined with tents.
I fully agree that this was a hostile design strategy. Not only are there an excessive amount of bike racks, but that are also unnecessarily spaced extremely far apart to occupy more of the sidewalk space.
I agree that the spacing and excessive amount of bike racks alludes to hostile design. Something worth noticing is also the angle and orientation of the bike racks. This eliminates the possibility of someone adjusting and sleeping within the bike racks with a cover spanning across.
I’m glad that many of the comments agree that this is an example of hostile design, even though it’s much more subtle than some of the other examples. It’s a smart way to keep homeless people from sleeping on the sidewalk, while also adding function (bike racks) and beauty (plants) to the space. (I know I’m responding to my own posts, however my examples are some of the few examples of hostile design that are within close proximity to the building that I’m examining, and there wasn’t any rule that I couldn’t reply to my own posts).
This is a smart example of hostile design. The bike racks are placed perfectly to deter people from being able to camp there. This was smart pointing it out as this is definitely one of the more subtle methods of hostile design.
Now that I am aware of hostile design being so prevalent in the Eugene area, it is extremely clear that these bike racks are no mistake from urban designers. They are clearly placed to deter unhoused individuals.