From ubiquitous protrusions on window ledges to bus-shelter seats that pivot forward, from water sprinklers and loud muzak to hard tubular rests, from metal park benches with solid dividers to forests of pointed cement bollards under bridges, urban spaces are aggressively rejecting soft, human bodies.
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“When you’re designed against, you know it,” says Ocean Howell, who teaches architectural history at the University of Oregon, speaking about anti-skateboarding designs. “Other people might not see it, but you will. The message is clear: you are not a member of the public, at least not of the public that is welcome here.” The same is true of all defensive architecture. The psychological effect is devastating….
Defensive architecture is revealing on a number of levels, because it is not the product of accident or thoughtlessness, but a thought process. It is a sort of unkindness that is considered, designed, approved, funded and made real with the explicit motive to exclude and harass. It reveals how corporate hygiene has overridden human considerations, especially in retail districts. It is a symptom of the clash of private and public, of necessity and property.
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Ironically, it doesn’t even achieve its basic goal of making us feel safer. There is no way of locking others out that doesn’t also lock us in. The narrower the arrow-slit, the larger outside dangers appear. Making our urban environment hostile breeds hardness and isolation. It makes life a little uglier for all of us.
Quite frankly I am a little weary of the recent trend to beat up on business and homeowners who have grown tired of having to clean up after people who defecate and leave other debris on your doorstep. If I showed up on your doorstep in suit and tie and did the same, I’d be hauled away by the law posthaste. One set of rules for everyone please.
On another note, it wouldn’t really take much to recreate the conditions which led people to flee cities for the suburbs just a generation ago. A perception of filth, disorder and danger would do it.
If people obeyed rules, then you wouldn’t need all these measures.
Note that most of the anti-skateboarding installations are on private property.
Does one take offence to a front yard fence or a hedge as “unfriendly”.
Do bollards or those big red concrete balls in front of the defunct Target stores scream “stay away” you’re not welcome?
How about adding fencing to the top of the concrete barrier surrounding BC Place in case a illegally off-leash dog happens to jump over it onto the street 10 metres below.
or do we leave it open and “welcoming”?