A recent affordablehousingaction.org post featured a town seemingly hell-bent on destroying its own quality of life — anything to get rid of those drug-crazed, brain-fried homeless folk who just don’t understand that the human right to shelter, (as well as other social amenities), only applies to ‘upstanding citizens.’
Most homeless-discouraging architecture, however, is less self-destructive than that of Lakewood Township, New Jersey’s over-the-top attack on their own town centre. The actions were taken on advice from community planning ‘experts,’ the local police. The police may well have been thinking about homeless riots and clear sightlines/fields-of-fire for police snipers1.
Hostile architecture is nonetheless being implemented, along with discriminatory community planning/by-law changes aimed at warding off the homeless. It is seldom quite as dramatic as in Lakewood, but it is occurring more and more frequently, though not always reaping quite the public approval that city councils may be anticipating2.
Can you recognize hostile architecture? It also targets teenagers who engage in socially-frowned-upon activities. What are your options if you spot hostile architecture and don’t approve of it? Here’s a useful article on the subject from lifehacker: How to Spot Anti-Homeless Architecture (and What to Do About It)
