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Homelessness as a social matter is complicated and complex. This essay will analyze the different approaches and attitudes towards the issue and will attempt to understand and acknowledge ways in which the problem can be settled; whether the issue is temporary enough to solve or whether the permanence and complexity of homelessness are too overwhelming to be completely resolved by society and urban design.
Additionally, there are a variety of pathways that people follow into homelessness, some of these common themes being; substance misuse, childhood trauma, and lack of care. These themes are psychological, which questions whether urban design alone is able to solve homelessness. ‘According to a 2005 global survey, over 1.5 billion people don’t have ‘adequate’ housing. It’s difficult to identify more precise numbers because countries have different definitions of ‘homelessness.’ (Soken-Huberty, 2015). After putting researchers’ and theorists’ views under scrutiny, this essay will show that many have been too quick to assume what these themes mean and believe they can approach the issue in a straightforward manner. Homelessness in itself is of a multidimensional nature, in that there are many forms and sub-categories which all intertwine under the body of homelessness; unfortunately, this is not identified explicitly enough and as a result, the full importance of the psychological themes in relation to homelessness is not grasped and understood to the extent it needs to be.
Scholars Hoppe and Baumohl state that the term itself, ‘homelessness’, ‘offers minimal analytical precision’ (Hoppe and Baumohl et al, 1996). It is most appropriate to acknowledge homelessness as a continuous environmental problem, rather than a singular, circumstantial issue in society. As previously mentioned, homelessness and rough sleeping is an issue that is recognized but merely understood and quite bluntly disregarded, ‘homelessness in cuts across two segments; single males between the ages of 36-45’ (UK Government, 2021). In 2016, the chief executive of-based charity St Mungo’s, Howard Sinclair stated in the Guardian newspaper that homelessness is increasing every year. Writer McVeigh states, ‘So are the needs of those people, the complex issues, the range of problems – the degree of need, is much, much higher than it was even three years ago’ (McVeigh, 2016). Throughout thorough research and exploration on the affair and having understood the different outlooks on homelessness; the aim is to assess both negative and positive propositions to the issue at hand which will help to conclude the problem.
In reference to urban design and homelessness, hostile architecture plays a crucial part; it neither resolves the issue of homelessness nor oppresses it, but rather attempts to relegate it from sight. Researcher George Kafka explains that ‘Anti-homeless spikes – metal studs implanted at a ground level designed to discourage the homeless from sleeping!’ (Kafka, 2019). This promotes the act of social control within city spaces; suggesting that, in spite of homelessness within urban areas not formally being against the law, it is, however, very much unwelcome. Author Henri Lefebvre states that ‘social space is not a thing among other things, nor a product among other products; rather it subsumes things produced, and encompasses their interrelationships in their coexistence and simultaneity – their (relative) order andor (relative) disorder.’ (Lefebvre, 1991, p73). Defensive architecture is particularly common in major global cities much like, where neoliberal policies have taken hold, enhancing the rise of homelessness. Mayor, Sadiq Khan states that the rise of homelessness is a ‘national disgrace’ and that he ‘opposes inhuman types of defensive architecture!’ (Khan, 2019). Advocates of contentious urban design argue that this is necessary for the safety of the public, and believe that this should become more widespread as urban planners start to associate this type of design as a ‘form of best practice’ (Fallon, 2019) to keep social safety intact.
Whilst doing this, the issue of homelessness inflates and becomes even more crucial, suggesting that the urban design is in fact creating a façade of safe spaces, when in reality these designers are simply moving homelessness elsewhere in an aggressive manner and essentially not solving the crisis in any way. ‘Not only does it look unattractive and aggressive, it shows the selfish nature of society and its thoughts on the environment. Has anyone considered who takes the blame if children wish to playfully climb the trees, unaware of the barbaric devices situated on top of the branches? (Or) if a branch falls, with an unsuspecting person relaxing beneath?’ (Furzer, 2017). This indicates that not only does ‘hostile architecture’ affect the homeless but also has a considerable impact on the rest of society and ways in which they may use spaces; this supports the idea of urban and social control over society.
Other theorists have stated that they believe ‘public spaces are becoming increasingly privatized’ (Blomley, 2004; Mitchell, 2005; White, 2012). Researchers have come to this conclusion through the act of city councils excluding certain groups from spaces in the city, the increase in urban privatisation can also occur unofficially through the exertion of regulations that selectively prohibit certain ways of how public space is used i.e. homeless people finding a place to sleep, whilst overlooking ‘undesirable activities and uses, i.e. drugs and the consumption of alcohol’ (Blomley, 2010). This highlights the contemporary changes in the urban design that reveal the apparent influence of a series of interrelated developments; ‘the rise of consumerism, the mass privatization of public space, and the intensification of social regulation’ (White, 2012).
This follows the theme of gentrification, ‘the process of improving an area of a town or city so that it attracts people of a higher social class than before’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2020). Gentrification forces the less fortunate and powerless individuals to compete with more privileged and advantaged groups in society. The results of this has led to widespread homelessness for major cities including. As an area gentrifies, the financial and economic opportunities rise for those who are of a higher class; these areas become open to the deconstruction of old builds into new builds, which wealthy people can then invest into; the only outcome of this is a rising cost of living and opportunities that solely benefit the upper class. ‘Privately owned public spaces, also known as POPS, or sometimes ‘pseudo spaces’ have sharply increased in numbers and size across since the start of the century, especially in.’ (Clack, 2011), this supports the idea of increasing privatised spaces. These spaces are becoming privatised because societies higher class individuals want to dismiss and push out lower class groups and actively exclude the less fortunate within the public space they are surrounded by; this only leaves room for continuous struggle for the homeless, making it substantially more difficult to seek refuge. Moreover, when spaces become ‘privatized’ it becomes difficult for designers to create spaces that help homeless people, due to legal restrictions. ‘Privatisation describes the process of change within the management and ownership of open spaces. … Traditionally we differentiate public spaces in terms of the rules of access, the source and nature of control over entry and rules of use.’ (Grolle, 2008), this reiterates the idea of social control, maintaining cohesion and setting boundaries, with the goal of ensuring conformity within an area.
Continually, the conflict theory, introduced by political philosopher, Karl Marx, indicates that capitalism is one of the main causes of homelessness. Marx’s conflict theory can be used to justify capitalism as the source of homelessness due to the fact that this theory includes two different classes: ‘the bourgeoise (the people who control the means of production in a capitalist society) and the proletariat (the members of the working class)’ (Marx, 1848). The conflict theory claims that the bourgeoisie do not have the working class’ best interest at heart, instead their intention is to benefit for their personal financial gain. Philosopher Marx himself believed that this approach (the conflict theory) was false consciousness, he states that ‘the issue of false consciousness is a genuinely difficult problem that has no definite solution… We should not approve of an unequal and brutal society’ (Marx, 1848). Applying this theory helps to better explain both homelessness and the problems of capitalism, including the power struggles between different social classes being the result of ‘s capitalist society. The conflict theory, again, supports the idea that hostile architecture is a form of social control and personal gain, it transparently holds up the idea of capitalism as explained by Marx.
On the contrary, although urban designers may not have hierarch over the homelessness crisis, reassuringly there are still several projects stemming which harnesses the artful conception of architects to interact with the reality of homelessness. Rather than straightforwardly designing spatial solutions, these builds are systematic and process-led to cater for the urgent needs and causes of those who find themselves displaced and without shelter. ProxyAddress, a project by Chris Hildrey, aims to domesticate the thousands of empty homes within to design and create stability for individuals without a permanent or fixed address. ‘Hildrey decided to tackle the issue of homelessness while designer in residence at the Design Museum in 2017. He wanted to find immediate ways of improving people’s lives while politicians address the building of more homes in the long term.’ (Priest, 2018). Through the analysis of his own project, Hildrey argues that the competence and skill set of what young architects obtain whilst studying could be put to a much wider range of uses outside their limits of designing buildings. ‘Most people read the city as a very static thing, all brick and stone, It’s a thing you live your life through and it will outlive you. But when you’re an architect, it becomes a thing constantly in flux.’ (Hildrey, 2018).
Evaluating a number of studies and projects, designer Reed Watts came to great recognition, he is an architect who created wooden sleeping pods open and available to the homeless in. ‘By releasing the design as a royalty-free Creative Commons license, we hope to give as many organisations as possible an opportunity to use the pods where there is a need for short-term shelter,’ (Watts, 2018). These pods offer a temporary, yet, secure shelter to those who might otherwise be spending their nights in city streets. Observing Watts’ simple and low-tech design that can be placed and installed in disused buildings, shows that all architects really need, aside from legal permissions, is essentially a simple and affective design process that provides the two basic needs of an individual, shelter and warmth; ‘as architects, the problem of homelessness does not end at designing sustainable and affordable houses’ (Shreya Vadrevu, 2021). As well as using low-cost, sustainable materials, Watts analyses the ways in which his design should be efficient and economically effective; these modular pods are created from easy-to-assemble wooden panels, ‘each pod consists of 18-millimetre-thick interlocking panels of fireproof birch plywood, which can be assembled by hand. Together they form an approximately cube-shaped structure, measuring 2.1 metres high, 2.1 meters long, and 1.9 meters wide’ (Frearson, 2018). When acknowledging and understanding the issue of homelessness, as an architect or designer, thinking about capacity, location and privacy are vital aspects of trying to resolve the crisis; essentially attempting to move homeless individuals away from threatening and unsafe areas, rather than mindlessly just creating a sheltered box. These two projects suggest that there is possible hope in working towards a solution to end homelessness temporarily or more realistically lessen the amount of homeless people within urban cities, through the competence and mindfulness of designers and their artful intentions.
Over the years, opinions and speculations on the topic of homelessness have become quite extreme. Many people are either strongly for the idea that the issue of homelessness can be solved through the means of the built environment, whilst others place confidence in that urban design is most definitely not the answer to this ongoing crisis. Writer Kay Hill mentions, ‘When you’re working on constructed urban infrastructure it’s disturbing how often the brief includes making sure the homeless can’t gather or sleep there’ (Hill, 2021). This leads me to the subject matter of urban zones of conflict; fundamentally, the urban spaces and the objects we design are usually representative of the values and beliefs of society. In, a variety of spaces are created to help the homeless such as shelters, food banks and soup kitchens, former armed serviceman Ian Northcott states that ‘A lot of people doing a little is better than a few people doing a lot’ (Northcott, 2016). This aid comes from a common social desire and ambition to eradicate homelessness, yet this urge of aid often positions the homeless individual as dependant on temporary support and relief which may, opposingly, reinforce their homeless status, as these are such give and take aids. This negative outlook and pessimistic attitude is clearly revealed within the city environment, this is shown through the artifacts of, ‘defensive architecture’. This segregation between the homeless and the rest of society generally comes as a result of prejudice.
Why is it that, as a community, we have such a negative and cynical response towards the homeless society that we essentially designate it as ‘undeserving’? In response to this question, using reference to the work of Susan Fiske and George Allport, pioneers in the field of prejudice and stereotypes through the subject of sociology. The stereotype content model, which was developed by Fiske et al, gives the proposition that the several different stereotypes and interpersonal impressions form along two dimensions: warmth and competence (Figure 1). Individuals encountering homelessness whereby their circumstances may not be instantly visible are often recognised as having low competence. This diagram is therefore transparent in showing that homelessness conjures passionate responses of disgust. This conception was best put, although very obtrusively, by social activist Peter Marin in the 1980s in his article ‘Helping and Hating the Homeless’: ‘For many of us, the homeless are shit, and our policies toward them, our spontaneous sense of disgust and horror, our wish to be rid of them… all of this has hidden in it, close to its heart, our feelings about excrement.’ (Marin, 1980). The feeling of disgust and the dehumanisation of homeless individuals that have mentally been discriminated against and placed in the low light of society, can also be mapped physically, in the urban environment through social and legal means of rejection (Figure 2). In light of this outlook on homelessness, having produced a mapped out exercise has helped establish and analyse the display of physical conflict and hostility throughout the different boroughs of.
Withal, a home has connotations of emotional wellbeing and essentially establishes roots, leaving the issue of homelessness to deprive people of their basic rights, making the homeless community feel self-isolated. As previously mentioned, the problem of homelessness cannot be solved singularly through sustainable design and affordable accommodation; it also broadens into urban landscape design. ‘There is, within architecture’s range of capabilities, genuine potential for agency to use its unique tools and skillsets to demonstrate what is possible; to develop new, useful prototypes to help reconnect community; to make problems society wishes to hide visible in positive ways.'(Maltzan, 2020). Within the projects that took place for the Skid Row Housing Trust, Maltzan justly considered both urban context and interior, surrounding residents with a warm and welcoming space to encourage social participation. Having reviewed this project and approach to homelessness through architects like Michael Maltzan, it becomes apparent that designers need to implement unique and radical ways of working whilst also facing social challenges.
To conclude, after addressing and analytically understanding the different propositions on the topic of homelessness within specifically; it is apparent that urban design is not and physically cannot be the sole solution to the issue of homelessness. Unfortunately, housing and shelter alone is merely enough to put this crisis to an end. Altogether, homelessness is such a complicated and permanent phenomenon whereby urban designers, society and even architects are unable to solve efficiently. ‘The ‘post’ considered as an indicator of ‘what comes after’ is a classic modernist trope that, historically, has come to define philosophy after Kant: a break or ‘rupture’ with the past’ (Blake et al, 2003, p.59) suggesting that although taking a ‘post-modern’ approach to issues within a society seem generally successful, taking on this approach in light of solving homelessness, as a designer, will be very complex; due to the fact that homelessness has too many branches and therefore designers cannot create such solutions that embrace individualism and experimentation.
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