Hostile architecture

Bolts installed on the front steps of a building to discourage sitting and sleeping

Hostile architecture[a] is an urban-design strategy that uses elements of the built environment to purposefully guide behavior. It often targets people who use or rely on public space more than others, such as youth, poor people, and homeless people, by restricting the physical behaviours they can engage in.[1]

The term hostile architecture is often associated with items like "anti-homeless spikes" – studs embedded in flat surfaces to make sleeping on them uncomfortable and impractical. This form of architecture is most commonly found in densely populated and urban areas.[2][3] Other measures include sloped window sills to stop people sitting; benches with armrests positioned to stop people lying on them; water sprinklers that spray intermittently; and public trash bins with inconveniently small mouths to prevent the insertion of bulky wastes.[4] Hostile architecture is also employed to deter skateboarding, BMXing, inline skating, littering, loitering, public urination,[5] and trespassing, and as a form of pest control.[6]


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  1. ^ Chellew, Cara (2019). "Defending Suburbia: Exploring the use of defensive urban design outside of the city centre". Canadian Journal of Urban Research. 28: 19–33. Archived from the original on 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  2. ^ Omidi, Maryam (12 June 2014). "Anti-homeless spikes are just the latest in 'defensive urban architecture'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  3. ^ Andreou, Alex (18 February 2015). "Anti-homeless spikes: 'Sleeping rough opened my eyes to the city's barbed cruelty'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  4. ^ Quinn, Ben (13 June 2014). "Anti-homeless spikes are part of a wider phenomenon of 'hostile architecture'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  5. ^ Morris, Hugh (2016-02-04). "Anti-pee paint: San Francisco's walls fight back". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  6. ^ Andrea Lo. "The debate: Is hostile architecture designing people -- and nature -- out of cities?". CNN. Retrieved 2022-08-16.