yhomelessness-blog

[yhomelessness-blog]

Introduction

Defensive or hostile urban design is a collection of design strategies that work to guide human behavior as a form of crime prevention or property protection (Chellew, 2018). It targets the city’s most vulnerable, for example, people experiencing homelessness, by making spaces that are relied on the most for example, like sleeping on benches, hostile. It works in favor of the wealthy by removing targeted populations (people living on the street) through the use of objects that are meant to direct a person’s behavior. Cara Chellew (2018) has also noted that control is exerted through the use of silent agents, which are designed objects that manage behavior instead of authorities directly interacting with people. Silent agents take many forms, it depends on the behavior they are designed to restrict. These “silent agents” may eliminate the need for authorities to intervene, but are also hostile, inflexible, and non-negotiable (Chellew, 2018). This blog will focus on various structures designed for the sole purpose of excluding people who experience homelessness. Hostile architecture is doing more harm than good in our cities and their purpose needs to be reassessed. Instead of wasting money on these objects the money should go towards housing and helping people find a safe, secure, and permanent place to live. Hostile architecture not only harms all its citizens, but it also marginalizes the cities most vulnerable and pushes them outside to the outskirts, where it is harder for them to survive. The following sections will explore how hostile architecture impacts people experiencing homelessness and challenge its use in the public sphere. I will also suggest potential ways to end homelessness that have been proven to work. But the question still remains, why haven’t our leaders invested in ending homelessness?

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This very subtle, hard to notice bench has a bar hidden behind the term “armrest” is an example of an anti-homeless object. I say it is hard to notice because I hardly looked or thought twice about it until it was pointed out to me. Of course, it had never occurred to me it’s true and hostile purpose at first glance. These benches are designed to prevent people experiencing homelessness from sleeping on them by making them unsuitable to fit a person laying down. The city is filled with these almost invisible and innocent hostile designs that are deliberately made not to capture your attention. This sad but true reality has pushed many people to the outskirts of the city, making it more difficult to survive. This bench is targeting the city’s most vulnerable and is deliberately discriminating against them. Their voices cannot be heard because of their status in society which also shows the depth of selfishness humankind has gone too. I think the city has implied that people who sleep on benches perhaps choose it or prefer it. However, it is the person's last resort of options because of course everyone would want to sleep on a bench with everyone staring at them in the winter nights. In addition, they want to keep the people experiencing homelessness out of their “public space” and not in their backyard. It would only then make more sense that the city invests more money into housing instead of building up barriers. These barriers create a very hostile environment that probably will not affect you unless you experience homelessness, and only then will people care.

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https://www.google.ca/search?q=toronto+anti-homeless+spikes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA774CA774&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKlpzbw57bAhXk5oMKHRpCBoYQ_AUICigB&biw=1093&bih=490#imgrc=vTL-J5jJKS_z8M: 

Many of the authorities and people in power have always sought to create a safe space in many cities around the world. However, they did so by excluding, humiliating and delineating the cities most vulnerable. As most people in power are probably not homeless, their main focus remains on keeping “them” out instead of accommodating the people who experience homelessness. Defensive or hostile designs have historically been used to protect its citizens, for example, the yellow line in front of the trains that implies stand back because it is dangerous. We see once again the spikes on the floor are used to prevent people from sleeping on that spot. The city’s message to the person about to sleep there is that we don’t want you here and there is no place for you. These designs around the city also facilitate hate crimes as it sends out that hostile message that you are not welcome here or will be protected by authorities. This facilitates more problems of other citizens abusing the most vulnerable and committing mass murders against this group of people. They are also being seen as less human and undeserving of the support systems designed for everyone else. Many people are unaware of this and continue with their day to day lives in ignorance of what is happening all around them. The city also makes them easier to target as they can’t sleep in the hidden place they used to before the spikes. Most of these subtle designs tend to go unnoticed by many but are apparent to those excluded (Atkinson & While, 2018)

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Isn’t our current approach to homelessness more expensive than its alternative anyways? Gaetz (2012) thought so too, he noted that emergency services are way more expensive to maintain than addressing the root cause of homelessness and ending it all together. It is worth noting that the current approach of band-aid solutions is not efficient and does not provide a long-term resolution. Studies have also provided us with information that shows that investing in homelessness prevention is cost-efficient and is less than keeping someone on the streets (National Council on Welfare, 2011). In the 1980s people began to respond to homelessness and their initial response was to expand emergency services like (emergency departments, shelters and soup kitchens). Although this may have worked for some time, the long-term effects of this model failed. This was due to a decline in health as one lives on the street for longer periods of time. Their health declines and their mental state deteriorates. And as homelessness increases, it becomes more visible to the public and that is where hostile architectural designs come in. When homelessness becomes visible to the public, people start labelling and do not want to see people living on the street sleeping in their neighborhoods. New policies come into play like the Safe Streets Act along with laws to prevent panhandling and etc. These designs cost money and time so the alternative of ending homelessness should be more appealing. But I still wonder why the government has not shifted to prevention.

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This saying could not be more relevant to solving poverty and homelessness. When an individual experiences homelessness it creates a vicious cycle within society that is difficult to escape. I think that it is very easy to declare homelessness as not your problem and ignore it. But everyone’s tax money goes towards the expansion of these emergency services that are not solving it the root of the problem. So, in a way it does impact everyone in society more than we think. The people living on the streets experience fear, hunger, anxiety and depression because they are human beings just like everyone else. It is way easier to prevent people from sleeping on the streets rather than invest in emergency services to fix what could have been prevented. Once they fall into this cycle of temporary services it is very difficult to get out. If Canada’s goal is to maximize the amount of people that survive in poverty than indeed we are successful but at a great expense (National Council of Welfare Reports, 2011). However, If success is measured in ending poverty and its costly consequences, a different approach is necessary (National Council of Welfare Reports, 2011). This report found that an investment approach is more likely to succeed in ending the growing costs of poverty. However, instead of this money being invested in ending poverty which will end homelessness, money is being spent on useless things like defensive designs. It really makes me frustrated that there are so many researched and proven solutions that continue to stay in research articles and are never enforced into our cities.

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http://homelesshub.ca/resource/hidden-inplain-sight-living-homeless-york-region

This picture made me reflect on the depth that hostile architecture has come to and made me realize that it may only get worse. If the government isn’t investing in prevention measures and is only focused on immediate emergency measures, it means that people will continue to live on the streets until they die. There is a very simple answer to end homelessness and it is called housing. If people are living on the streets it is not because they want to or prefer it, it is because they ran out of resources. Housing First is a recovery-oriented system that transitions people who experience homelessness into independent and permanent housing with no preconditions (Gaetz, Scott & Gulliver, 2013). It also provides them with additional services and supports as they may need. Gaetz, Scott and Gulliver (2013) found the underlying principle of Housing First is that people are more successful in moving forward with their lives if they are first housed. And if we take a moment to think about it, you can’t get a job without a stable home to go to rest for the day and get back up the next day. If you’re not well rested and have the proper resources you will not be presentable. It is very hard for someone living on the streets to change their life around without a stable and safe home. This model addresses this issue and can potentially eliminate homelessness. They also mentioned how Housing First is a rights-based intervention that emerged from the philosophy that everyone deserves housing, and that adequate housing is a precondition for recovery.

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http://homelesshub.ca/resource/hidden-inplain-sight-living-homeless-york-region

Have you ever saw someone going through the trash and thought why on earth would they do that? I know I have. After reflecting on my own thought process, I figured my thoughts stemmed from the mass media. The media has continuously shammed, marginalized and alienated people experiencing homelessness. There has been a shift from the “we” to “me” which idolizes selfishness. This moves away from the common good for the public to only doing what benefits yourself. The con of this shift is that if you fail, it is because you chose that path and it is all on you. This type of ideology also believes that everyone can change their situation if they wanted to and that it is only up to them. By thinking like this the public tends to believe that people sleeping on the streets are somehow in control and are the cause of happened to them. They fail to see who this person was, what led them to their current situation and jump to labelling them. However, escaping the cycle of homelessness is difficult without support. Lightman, Mitchell, and Wilson (2008) found that low income almost inevitably ensures poor health. This is an important finding because imagine having no income. And they concluded that poverty indeed does make the public sick. I think it is important not to jump to conclusions the next time you see someone going through the trash and call up the city to have spikes installed to prevent it. This may be that persons only chance of survival.

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https://boingboing.net/2017/12/19/endangered-faeces.html

I continue to wonder about the question I wondered about earlier in this blog about why can't our leaders end homelessness and I am still puzzled. If the research is there to support a new approach and the money then why don’t they just end it. This is one of the simpler problems that can be fixed without too much work. I also wonder if it is because they have no voice and if it is because no one cares enough to invest time and effort. Or have we they lost their humanness? I am not sure why because it is so simple yet it still has not been enforced. It doesn’t even require anyone to go to NASA. If homelessness is a determinant of poor health outcomes, then having affordable housing should improve one’s health status through reduced exposure to the harmful effects of sleeping on the streets. It should also offer a sense of security and stability that people would be missing from life on the streets or in and out of shelters (Henwood et al., 2013). This picture of anti-bird spikes is another example of people taking advantage of the most vulnerable and voiceless. In this case it is to prevent birds from defecting on expensive cars. This abuse of power if out of control will destroy nature and people. Just like how the people living on the streets are being prevented from staying in certain places they may even call home, so are these birds. This concept is being repeatedly used without consensus of the people or the common good. Most of these anti-homeless structures get built overnight in silence

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https://twitter.com/theeyeopener/status/976645998847000576

This is another very subtle looking anti-homeless design. It is designed to direct traffic where there is shelter from the rain and wind, pushing the people that experience homeless to the unsheltered side of the sidewalk. This will decrease their chances of staying where there is traffic of people and probably will have to find another place. This picture was taken at Victoria and Dundas where some people sleep. The Eye Opener (Ryerson paper) tweeted “Earlier today, Jason, the man who sleeps in front of the Tim Hortons at Victoria and Dundas streets said police asked him to move across the street, so these planters could be installed”. As I read some of the responses I was shocked. Everyone is saying how they are heartbroken because Jason the person that sleeps there is nice and respectful. I think a consensus should have been taken before kicking people out or designing objects to do the job. If authorities have failed to protect those most vulnerable, I really wonder what the future will hold. The hostility of these objects is hidden behind the plants that make you think it is for aesthetic purposes. A bigger problem is that people just simply do not realize their true purpose and are blinded. Maybe if those plants had an anti-homeless sign people would realize. But I doubt that would ever happen. I hope going forth people are more educated and always question things around them that either appear suddenly or have been there for a long time

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Lets Make A Change

Through the exploration of hostile design, it has become clear to me that these agents do more harm and do not resolve the root of the problem, they only push it somewhere else. In light of this new insight, I believe all hostile architecture should be removed whether it is beneficial or not. It may not matter to some people but to others that place we are pushing them out of they may call home. It is also very important that people stop blaming individuals for sleeping on the streets and unite to make a change. My professor once said that one person may not be able to make a change alone but if we all unite than it is more than possible. It is possible to tackle the root cause of homelessness and focus on long-term solutions. After all, the people that sleep on the floor are someone’s father, daughter, sister or friend. Everyone deserves a place to stay and someplace to call home. Savičić and SAVIC (2013) stated that the purpose of design in public spaces is typically to make objects and environments more comfortable and functional. However, a defensive urban design is non-negotiable for example Savic (2018) said it is like a policeman who prohibits people from sleeping on a park bench versus the use of metal armrests. With the policeman, you can negotiate, but you can’t get anywhere negotiating with an armrest. There is a belief that objects will be able to solve problems but that is far from the truth. We need people to be social and talk to each other and offer help.