Defensive Architecture
What Is Defensive Urbanism?
If you’ve ever noticed a public bench split in half by a metal bar, or a series of seemingly ornamental boulders blocking the sidewalk under a high-rise overhang, you’ve seen what is often described as defensive urbanism or ‘hostile architecture.’
Boulders to Replace Rose Bushes in ODOT Effort to Inconvenience the Homeless
The Oregon Department of Transportation anticipates spending about a million dollars to bring boulders to road embankments so that they are less hospitable to the homeless.
San Francisco Debates an Anti-Homeless Fence
The deployment of so-called defensive architecture is in the news again. This time the controversy is in the public realm, as San Francisco considers a fence to keep homeless out of McCoppin Hub.
Innovations in Street Furniture Reflect New Approach to Public Space
After a tour of Los Angeles street furniture, Alissa Walker offers her reflections on cities' changing approach to public space.
Lessons from Baltimore: Civic Action, Not Defensive Architecture, Needed
Baltimore was only beginning to undo the ill effects of the architecture and planning response to the riots of 1968 when the protests and unrest of 2015 struck. Can the architecture field produce a more positive response to violence this time?
The Resurgence of Anti-Homeless Policy and Design
A report by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley tracks the proliferation of vagrancy laws in the Golden State. Meanwhile, The Guardian notes the spread of so-called "defensive architecture."
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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