#publicspaces — Public Fediverse posts

Making hostile spaces The dispersal of non consumers

* At an intersection of numerous car parks, retail industry and an amusement industrial complex in Coffs Harbour there is a small green space with benches and birds. People and birds rest there and have their lunch.

Some time ago the amusement & drink giant piped ongoing unpleasant, loud music over the small green island and the abundant car parks.

The intention of the outdoor speakers distributing noise pollution is/was to engage in then 'dispersal' of ‘loitering' non customers.

This loud and repetitive ‘music’ is also known as "aggressive" or "defensive" architecture. This design in mostly public spaces is intended as a form of 'organised abandonment' (Ruth Wilson Gilmore) of the poor and the unhoused.

Often the exclusionary design acoustic ('steady-state spam’) is combined with other anti homeless devices (anti-homeless spikes furniture) which function to keep members of the public out of public spaces.

With increasing inequality, that is non spending consumers, the system is increasingly employing hostile practices. Privately owned public spaces such as walkways, plazas, arcades and small parks have to ensure the safety of their customers and staff. Non-consumers have no place in this scheme.

* "Woolworths has installed outdoor speakers at its Darwin city store to play the supermarket's 'Fresh Food People' jingle on repeat in a bid to deter loitering.” >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-25/darwin-city-woolworths-looping-jingle-anti-social-behaviour/107073330
* "The NSW Police Force is currently running an Australian-first trial in Moree (an area with a high Indigenous population) using rooftop drones to "fight crime" in the area, controlled by people hundreds of kilometres away at Bankstown Airport." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-26/automation-and-repression-the-two-go-hand-in-hand-daron-acemoglu/107063582
#HostileArchitecture #PublicSpaces #inequality #privatisation #ShoppingCentres #dispersal #FirstNationsPeoples #biopolitics #surveillance #CCTV #PervasiveTechnologies #UAVs #NoisePollution #IndigenousPeoples #DesignApartheid #governance #CoffsHarbour

@crazyeddie @aworkinglibrary
It is probably about car dependency, car-centered areas. Like in the US where in many towns without a car one would struggle to do anything: getting to the grocery store, getting back from the store, reaching the other river bank as many bridges are motor vehicles only.

People can’t live without cars in such places. Even food banks have huge lines of cars, four "lanes". Some homeless people drive cars as well. Imagine the closest grocery store being 1 hour walking distance away, and the weather may be extremely hot/cold.

Many such areas don’t even have sidewalks or anything for walking at all. At the same time so called "jay-walking" is prohibited by law. The term "jaywalking" actually was invented by the cars lobby in the early 20th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking
Moving around by walking is extremely inconvenient, dangerous, taking ridiculous amounts of time, basically incompatible with everyday activities.

Also the parking lots, roads, intersections take up huge chunks of the city. Consider how much longer it takes to walk somewhere compared to what it could be without all these. Urban areas could look very different if they were human-centered and Points Of Interest were packed tightly.

And the bigger the city, the more space car infrastructure takes up. More lanes, wider intersections, parking lots can have up to many thousands spots, highways, freeways, interchanges of ridiculous sizes and shapes.

The topic is huge, what I mentioned is just the tip. Think of what you see around every day. Also all the noise. And danger it brings to everyone, not just drivers. The number of so called "accidents", another convenient term for the horrible things that happen everyday.

The areas which are pedestrian-friendly, bicycle friendly, have public transportation tend to have happier residents, more attraction points, more small businesses, more street life, way better air quality, less noise among other benefits.
Also social connections and interaction happen there and not on a 4-lane highway.

#Cars #Car #City #Urban #Streets
#Cities #CarFree #Roads #CarDependancy #StreetLife #Safety #Bycicles #Walking #UrbanSprawl #OneMoreLane #InducedTraffic #PublicTransport #PublicTransit #Access #PublicTransportation #Accessibility #Accessible #PublicSpaces #Socialization #Capitalism #Subsidies #Lobbying #WordsMatter #History #CarsAreDangerous #FuckCars

A New Wave of Pressure on Cyberspace and Public Spaces: Blocking Social Media Pages and Sealing Cafés

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.en-hrana.org/a-new-wave-of-pressure-on-cyberspace-and-public-spaces-blocking-social-media-pages-and-sealing-cafes/

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-disappearance-of-the-public-bench/

#HackerNews #publicspaces #urbanfurniture #architecture #communitydesign #placemaking

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-disappearance-of-the-public-bench/

#HackerNews #publicspaces #urbanfurniture #architecture #communitydesign #placemaking

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-disappearance-of-the-public-bench/

#HackerNews #publicspaces #urbanfurniture #architecture #communitydesign #placemaking

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-disappearance-of-the-public-bench/

#HackerNews #publicspaces #urbanfurniture #architecture #communitydesign #placemaking

The Disappearance of the Public Bench

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-disappearance-of-the-public-bench/

#HackerNews #publicspaces #urbanfurniture #architecture #communitydesign #placemaking

Urban Geometry at Night

The brutalist architecture of Bishop Lucey Park seems to suit black and white night shots. This was only my first time trying to photograph it in such a way but I’ll try again.

#architecturalPhotography #atmosphericPhotography #bishopLuceyPark #blackAndWhite #blackAndWhitePhotography2 #brutalistArchitecture #cityParks #concreteStructures #contemporaryArchitecture #cork #fluorescentLighting #heritageSites #ireland #modernDesign #nightPhotography #nighttimeUrban #photo #photography #publicRealm #publicSpaces #streetPhotography #urbanGeometry #urbanRegeneration #urbanSpaces

Festive Commerce in Cork

Brown Thomas on Patrick Street, Cork, is all lit up again for Christmas. On Oliver Plunkett Street they’ve put up the usual decorations and they look fabulous!

#2025 #architecturalLighting #atmosphericLighting #brownThomas #christmas #christmasDecorations #christmasLights #cityCentre #commercialPhotography #communalCelebration #cork #decorativeLights #departmentStore #festiveAtmosphere #festiveDecoration #festiveLighting #festiveSeason #holidaySeason #holidayShopping #illuminatedFacades #ireland #irishCities #irishRetail #luxuryRetail #motionBlur #nightPhotography #oliverPlunkettStreet #patricksStreet #pedestrians #photo #photography #publicSpaces #retail #seasonalDecoration #shopping #shoppingStreet #sonyA7rv #storefront #streetLighting #streetPhotography #urbanChristmas #urbanRetail #windowDisplay

Time for the obligatory #paneldiscussion at the #PublicSpaces conference #Pubconf2025 with Paris Marx, Emma Ghariani, Zuzanna Warso and Michiel Leenaars.

Could #courthouses provide the #blueprint for #safe #transgender #bathrooms?

As states move to #exclude trans people from using certain #publicspaces, #courtroom #accessibility is key to ensuring that #jurypools reflect the makeup of the country, experts say.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Massachusetts #Boston #Inclusion #Accessibility #Representation #Culture

https://19thnews.org/2024/08/courthouses-transgender-bathrooms-jury-accessibility/

#Rewilded former #GolfCourse in #Cheshire to be transformed into public #woodland | Access to green space | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/25/frodsham-cheshire-golf-course-transformed-woodland

#UK #England #Ecology #Conservation #PublicSpaces #Rewilding