Binnington, Chris, and Alessio Russo in, Defensive Landscape Architecture in Modern Public Spaces, suggests defensible landscapes are becoming ever more imbedded in the design approach of cities. These spaces do their best to appear as open and accepting as any other typical public space, but contain features which subtly hint at the acceptable activities within the space. Defensible landscape has become more radically exclusionary to unwanted groups of individuals who are considered disruptive in the public realm. Beginning with skateboarders in the 90s, architectural approaches have been taken to actively stop the unwanted acts of a group individuals in order to avoid the broken window theory. Slowly these approaches began to include the homeless population which often finds shelter on benches or under eaves for sleeping and protection from the weather, ultimately treating these individuals as if they were crimes waiting to happen. With the inclusion of said features becoming more common place, the public space no longer becomes public, and becomes a limbo between public and private, controlling the actions of specific individuals who interact with a space on a daily basis.

I agree with the message of Defensive Landscape Architecture in Modern Public Spaces, as rather than exploring the root cause of homelessness, like rising housing costs, and the decline of access to metal health facilities, hostile architecture has become a socially acceptable way to reject the homeless population from the general population.  Not only is this simply suppressing a largely growing population, it is also avoiding tackling the problem from its source, and is creating an acceptable erasure of this group of people’s existence entirely. Overtime, anti-homeless elements in the built environment have become synonymous with criminal activity. These notions have taken a physical effect of not only anti-homeless, but now anti-thief features in public spaces becoming far more common. This approaches can be as subtle as “armrests” on benches, to as overt as CCTV cameras placed in view, to discourage any unwanted activity or groups. As someone who used to skateboard though high school and undergrad, features of hostile design aren’t always as obvious as expected, and often time go unnoticed unless one trains their eye to see these exclusionary elements. Powerful places are vital to the creation of a successful city, but just as important, are the spaces in-between those places, the public realm, the stitch that knits the urban fabric together into one.

Figure 1. Stuart Semple’s life-size poster plastered over common anti-homeless features in public spaces.

Stuart Semple, a British artist, has taken it upon himself to call out the hostile design features he has noticed in cities. With bold text, and powerful life-size imagery, Semple punctures large posters over anti-homeless spikes highlighting how these features can become invisible in the built environment unless you are looking for them. He wishes to bring attention to the hostile nature of these spaces, and highlight the otherwise understated, violent aspect to this approach of exclusionary design. Rather than taking the steps to aid homelessness, these aspects of the built environment aim to erase houseless groups from the public view, allowing for the avoidance and pushing away of a rapidly increasing problem that has no clear or simple solution.

Figure 2. General Electric refrigerator ad

HouseBeautiful 1930: Vol 68 Iss 5, p.26

Caption: “You can AFFORD the economical General Electric Refrigerator

Though HouseBeautiful was created far before any contemporary notion of anti-homeless measures, the magazine itself is exclusionary to that very same group of people. Being a homeowner is one a barrier of entry to be included in many aspects of a community. When large groups of individuals find themselves rejected from spaces due to their lack of financial means, or access to mental health care, this can be grounds to create ostracized, radicalized, and villainized groups. Much like the older copies of HouseBeautiful including only white, homeowners in their advertisements and articles, that space becomes inherently exclusionary to any other group of people who do not fall under that category. Obviously, this example is on a much smaller scale compared to the current homeless situation of any major city, but the message stays the same — rejection from society further pushes individuals who need help away, rather than encouraging seeking the help that is needed to live a dignified, comfortable life.