Making our public spaces homeless-proof

Over the past decade, cities have tried to combat the prevalence of homelessness through a variety of tools. The image of a person sleeping on a park bench, for lack of a better place, became a public eyesore. Their goal: make the ubiquitous park bench uncomfortable for someone to sleep on. Barriers were erected, dividing the bench into 3 awkward-looking (and often ugly) single seats.

The homeless still need a place to sleep, and instead of lying on a park bench, they moved to covered alcoves, to the dark nooks of storefronts and businesses, and in our neighborhoods. But people still want a place to sit, to enjoy themselves during lunch or to take a rest on a walk. As a result, designers responded with recreating the park bench. Initially, efforts with a wooden or metal divider to prevent those to lie down were installed in its place; we can now find wavy, circular, irregular and mobile benches for people to "rest". When design was not enough, laws have been enacted to combat the problem. In Orlando, for example, an ordinance was passed to prohibit people from lying on park benches. What's next, preventing people from lying on the grass?

In our effort to make the homeless issue "go away," we have made our parks less people friendly. What happens when someone wants to lie down and look up at the stars, or when a couple in a romantic moment is interrupted by a metal divider separating the two? Instead of our parks and benches being a place where people can relax, relieve themselves and get away from the rigidity of urban life, they are met with the uncomfortable fact they are not welcome to do as they please. Sit in one particular position, or get out.

In our city, San Francisco simply removed the benches, particularly along Market Street (think of the barren public space Hallidie Plaza). No more benches, no more aesthetic homeless issue, correct? Not quite, as the homeless will sit or lie wherever it is comfortable or bearable. However, instead of the homeless losing a place to sleep, the greater public has lost an integral part of the public sphere: a comfortable place where people can meet, to catch up or watch urban life is now gone. Perhaps its time to change this point of view, to encourage people to spend time and engage their public spaces instead of shunning them. San Francisco would surely benefit.