Privatised nature of public spaces excludes the homeless

London Mayor Boris Johnson has criticised the installation of spikes on the ground outside the entrance of an apartment block in Southwark, allying himself with more than 62,000 others who have signed a petition on website change.org to have them removed.

The stainless steel spikes that stud the floor of a covered porch are certainly an ugly, hostile gesture – but they are also part of an increasing tendency to deter not only the homeless, but also the tired and the old from coming to sit or rest in the city.

Visitors to London will find the deep reveals and window sills of buildings which would be at convenient seat height adorned with punk studs and fakir beds. They will find tipping or slanting seats at bus stops that give barely any relief to the tired, furniture designed more to deter nappers than for the convenience of passengers.

They will find tunnels and subways with the corners between ground and wall filled in with wedges to dispel cosy junctions, and they will find niches for heating exhaust vents newly barred with iron railings. The range of deterrents can be truly impressive. There is textured paving and benches with armrests to make it impossible to lie down.

There are cast, fixed metal chairs in public places replacing people-length benches and there are high-frequency noises used to disperse teenagers (with their more sensitive hearing) from public places – and even classical music piped to scare off hoodies.

Between all these are the massive girths of the steel poles supporting bristling arrays of CCTV cameras and the rubbish that piles up as councils, afraid of bombs in bins, dispose of any means of throwing things away....Continue Reading

> via FT