Why cities are full of uncomfortable benches

That bench won't be yours forever.

When designing urban spaces, city planners have many competing interests to balance. After all, cities are some of the most diverse places on the planet. They need to be built for a variety of needs.

In recent years, these competing interests have surfaced conflict over an unlikely interest: purposefully uncomfortable benches.

Enter the New York City MTA. They’ve installed 'leaning bars’ to supplement traditional benches & save platform space. But designs like this carry an often invisible cost: they rob citizens of hospitable public space. And the people who experience this cost most directly are those experiencing homelessness.

A few notes of thanks:

First to Historian A. Roger Ekirch who kindly got me up to speed on the expansion of streetlights in historic western city districts.

[jennali]

That "leaning bar" is making me uncomfortable just to look at.

[cherrykid]

My dad got injured on his leg and he has to travel a lot on the subway and he needs a place to sit and those leaning things are no help.

[darebearproductions]

Oh just say it, you don’t want homeless people sleeping on the benches

[clairemerner]

Anti homeless architecture doesn’t mean people won’t be homeless. It just means they get pushed farther and farther to the margins.

[asifiqbal]

Why don’t they add small spikes on the floor, just for the fact to make others not “too comfortable” while standing.

[EllaGP]

I’ve always needed a bench that I can’t sit on. Thanks leaning bar!

[zohanrock]

my city put these leaning bars in the subway, but it was made out of smooth aluminium, so you kept slipping off and it took more effort to stay on it than just to stand or lean against an actual wall.
there was a public outcry until they finally flattened the top and installed it as a normal bench.

[renzk]

That moment when public space is no longer made for the public

[Kovukingsrod]

How about spending money on helping the homeless rather than investing in something that prevents them from having a place to rest?

[swaaggy]

Public spaces are not where homeless people should be.

Then where tf do they stay?

[udontsubugay]

The “leaning bar” is the most useless thing I’ve ever seen.

[blakejohnson]

‘Hostile’ is a very good word to describe this planning.

[baggyspaggy]

If I wanted a ‘leaning bar’ I could just use the wall inches away

[Zakster]

Another way to be made to feel unwelcome in an already difficult world.

[waltrr]

It's sad to see that rather than fixing the problem, people only want to make the problem more invisible.

[ProfessorWeird]

homeless people: **exists**
government: “go away”
homeless people: “where?”
government: “not my problem”

[megaascension]

Wouldn’t “leaning rails” be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act?

[woody]

Why do we put so much money into denying the homeless every single ounce of comfort a simple bench can offer? Surely there is a better way to use that money.

[ThomasFarquhar]

The homeless need to be helped, not pushed away

[tyler]

That leaning bar only works for people of a specific height range. If you’re very tall or very short it’ll be uncomfortable. Also it’s barely better than leaning on a wall in the first place