'Hostile' architecture on the defensive
What do we call these building elements meant to keep certain kinds of people out?
It鈥檚 been a lovely summer, but, oh, so many conflicts to keep track of: Iraq and Afghanistan, and Ukraine and Gaza 鈥� well, there鈥檚 been a cease-fire there. Oh, and Syria. One might say that what鈥檚 needed is one of those picture-in-picture television sets that sports fans use to follow multiple games at once.
But one really doesn鈥檛 want to make jokes about it.
And now the has identified another kind of hostility. Mercifully, this one doesn鈥檛 involve actual shooting. Rather, it鈥檚 a new term in its online 鈥淏uzzWord鈥� feature: hostile architecture.
What鈥檚 meant is not those massive hulking concrete buildings that seem to glower out at the world. Instead, hostile architecture refers to building elements that are designed to keep people away, especially certain kinds of people: young people, street people, and skateboarders. Examples abound, such as metal spikes set into the ground to keep people from sleeping in the doorways of apartment buildings, or bus-shelter 鈥渟eats鈥� set at such an angle that one can鈥檛 actually sit there very comfortably.
Does anyone remember the flap a few weeks ago about the 鈥減oor door鈥� in New York City 鈥� what called 鈥渁 developer鈥檚 Dickensian plan鈥� to have the occupants of the 鈥渁ffordable鈥� units in a luxury apartment complex on the Upper West Side enter through a separate door?
Macmillan defined the new BuzzWord as 鈥渢he design of buildings or public spaces in a way which discourages people from touching, climbing or sitting on them, with the intention of avoiding damage or use for a different purpose.鈥�
The was all over this one in June with an article on 鈥渢he Camden bench,鈥� a gray concrete thing named for the borough whose local council commissioned it, but with only a tenuous relationship to a traditional park bench. 鈥淭he bench鈥檚 graffiti-resistant sloping surface is designed to deter both sleeping and skateboarding,鈥� the newspaper reported. 鈥淲hile not as obvious as the stainless steel 鈥榓nti-homeless鈥� spikes that appeared outside a London apartment block recently, the benches are part of a recent generation of urban architecture designed to influence public behaviour, known as 鈥榟ostile architecture.鈥� 鈥�
The online version of the piece included a of some young skateboarders demonstrating that the Camden bench is indeed eminently skateboardable. Take that, Camden Council!
But the Macmillan writer made the astute observation that the expression hostile architecture 鈥渉as pejorative overtones, and is therefore mainly used by people who are sceptical about, if not completely opposed to, the idea.鈥� She went on to say that those who think this kind of thing is a good idea (鈥渧aluable in discouraging criminal or anti-social behaviour鈥�) often use the term defensive architecture or defensible architecture instead.
Ah, yes. One might argue that buzzword itself is something of a pejorative. But one man鈥檚 terrorist is another man鈥檚 freedom fighter.聽