Defensive or Hostile Architecture: The Immoral Ways That Portland Prevents the Homeless From Finding Rest
It’s no secret that the United States has a mountain of work to do in regards to the ever expanding and increasing issue of homelessness. Our city, Portland, Oregon, is fully aware of this problem in a way that other cities are not. Unfortunately for the homeless population, the city of Portland has not alway treated them in a very human way. Rather, it seems that many of the policies and actions of our city treat the homeless with contempt and do not want them to find a moment of peace. Sometimes it feels as though the city thinks that by making the homeless as uncomfortable as possible, they will eventually just go somewhere else, an ideal that is not only nonsensical but also immoral. While some cities tend to implement compassionate policies to address their issues of homelessness, Portland has resorted to something called defensive or “hostile” architecture in order to combat the homeless.
Defensive architecture, or more aptly named hostile architecture, is a design strategy that is meant to prevent certain groups, most often the homeless population, from using public spaces. These designs are also created with the intention of "blending in" with the nearby environment while also deterring "loitering".
It is not uncommon, especially in the city of Portland, to witness several homeless individuals just sitting down or "loitering" in random spots throughout the city. These people tend to gravitate towards locations that can provide them access to the things that they need like bathrooms, shade, or close to convenience or grocery stores. For this reason, Portland's parks can usually be seen housing more than a few homeless people at any given time. Usually these people try to create a comfortable environment for themselves by either laying down with their belongings on the nearby floors or benches.
Unfortunately for the homeless population, the city of Portland has shown that they find this unacceptable in numerous different ways and one of those is by using hostile architecture, a great irony considering that Portland is a city well known for its progressive values and commitment to social justice. One of the ways that Portland has done this is by making adjustments towards bench designs in order to make it difficult for any person to lay down or stretch comfortably. They have also added ridges to flat benches for the same purpose (see below).
A 7/11 in Downtown Portland once took it upon themselves to try to rid themselves of the supposed "homeless problem" taking place outside their doors. This small convenience store on the corner of Fourth and Taylor has always been a hotspot for homeless activity.
However, in 2019, this business decided to install a noise machine in order to annoy the people who tended to stay near their doors and rest. At first this machine played classical music but when that idea did not work they instead installed a noise machine that played a very loud and high-pitched beeping noise. This is one example of the city and it's people using hostile and immoral methods to push the homeless away rather than attempting to help or communicate with them. After numerous complaints a Portland Noise Control Officer arrived on the scene and determined that the sound was out of compliance with the city's noise ordinance code. Since then, the store has stopped playing the irritating audio.
The usage of hostile architecture clearly raises ethical concerns. Poverty is not a crime. Being homeless is not a crime. We should not treat the homeless population of Portland and the United States like criminals based on the fact that they do not have a comfortable and safe place to sleep at night. Hostile architecture is not a solution. It is immoral and unethical. The best way to solve the problem that our homeless population has made clear is by promoting mental health services, affordable housing, and social support, not by trying to piss off the people of our communities.
If the city of Portland were to focus on preventing the issues that cause people to become homeless then that would be the first step towards a more inclusive environment that choose to help rather than harm. Hostile architecture is a short-term solution and the homeless population deserve better than that. They deserve a long-term plan that has been set-up and implemented by a government that cares about all of the city's population, even the ones who do not have a home to call their own.
Written by Rolando Melendez
Further information about hostile architecture can be found here:
Further information about the 7/11 who installed a noise machine can be found here:
All the photos used in this blog post can also be found in the articles above.
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