Research Task. Homelessness and Urban Design

Public Space and Urban Design

While it is important to think about homelessness as a topic of social policy and social work, we easily forget to consider homelessness as a phenomenon of urban interactions. Especially the everyday regulation and use of public spaces is an important factor in shaping the living conditions of different types of homelessness. In this regards, the role of (urban) design is often underestimated.

Complete the following tasks to sensitize your perception of and your thinking about the relation between public spaces and homelessness:

  1. Check at least 4 of the additional sources listed below. Learn about hostile design and creative interventions in the area of homelessness and public space.
  2. Visit a central urban area of your city or region. Explore the area by walking around and/or spending some time (60 to 120 minutes) on central public spaces. Take a notebook and a camera or your phone with you to take notes and photos or do some sketches. Be careful to not violate people’s privacy, while doing so! Keep the following questions in mind:
        • Which public spaces are used by homeless people?

        • How are these spaces used? Which practices can you observe directly or indirectly?
          • Which of these practices are usually considered to be intimate/personal practices? Which of these practices are considered to be public practices?
          • Are the spaces used suitable for the practices observed?

        • Which elements of the built environment are used in the practices you observed?
          • Do they facilitate or complicate the practices?
          • Are they used for their original purposes or are they repurposed?
          • Can you identify design elements that are obviously intended to be hostile or supportive for homeless people? 

Now summarize the findings of your field trip by writing down answers to the following questions (about 300 words per question):
      • What were your main observations? 
      • Which spaces did you explore and which practices did you observe? 
      • What was the role of (urban) design? 
      • How would you use urban design to intervene in the space? 


Additional Sources:

You can check the Further Reading. What Role Can Architecture Play in Combatting Homelessness. The report from the Housing Solutions Platform gives some ideas about the potential of architecture to combat homelessness.
Apart from that, you may want to check the following sources:

Hostile design/architecture:

Creative Interventions:


Last modified: Wednesday, 21 September 2022, 12:13 PM