Reflecting on Our Field Project

    Through the Topics in Social Justice class field project, my group combated hostile architecture in the local community by increasing visibility of the issue and working to install welcoming architecture. To raise awareness of hostile architecture on campus, half of our team created poster designs, synthesized information into an information/resources document linked to our flyers, and attached printed versions to hostile structures nearby. The other portion of our group created a proposal for the installation of five non-hostile benches around Uni, which would provide an accessible place to rest and serve as an example of friendly architecture. 

One of our posters attached to a leaning bench inside a MTD bus stop on campus. This was an extremely widespread form of hostile architecture we found on campus.

Link to our anti-hostile architecture information and resource document, which we linked to every flyer.

    However, our project was not always centered around hostile architecture. Originally, our team aimed to enroll Champaign-Urbana into the Built for Zero initiative, which would lay the foundation for our community to work toward ending homelessness. However, after reaching out, we learned that Built for Zero is not accepting new communities into the collaborative. It was an insurmountable barrier to our original goal, so we decided to pivot toward tackling another issue surrounding homelessness—hostile architecture. After modifying our project, our team was able to accomplish everything outlined in our new plans. We disseminated posters and information around town, as well as completed and sent our proposal for non-hostile benches. Today, we received a response from the Office of Advancement, who were eager to search for donors to support the project!

Link to our proposal for non-hostile benches to be installed around school.

    That’s not to say, though, that there weren’t any setbacks. While disseminating posters, we realized that some were being removed within the same hour we put them up. Because of this, our project to raise awareness did not achieve its full desired effect, and I wish we had more time to continue replenishing posters and pursuing new avenues. If we could change our project based on what we know now, it would have been wise to explore additional avenues of raising awareness. We could have looked into online methods and other avenues for spreading the word, such as events, locations, or organizations to work with. When thinking about whether physical flyers would be an effective strategy, we could have looked into the policy surrounding them to prevent waste of time and materials. However, despite the aspects of our project we could have improved, I am proud that we took steps to educate ourselves and take action against hostile architecture. Through our work, I learned a lot about the issue, as well as the logistics and challenges of activism more broadly.

    Beyond the scope of our project, a lot more can and should be done to address the hostile architecture. An important step will be to improve UIUC and Champaign-Urbana policy on local architecture, which would require increased awareness among our local government. To create this change, petitions, letters, and board meeting comments could make effective strategies. However, despite the importance of establishing friendlier architecture that welcomes homeless people, it is still a band-aid solution spanning the surface of a larger issue. To get to the root of the problem that both hostile and non-hostile architecture attempt to address, increased funding and support is needed for programs to make a meaningful difference in helping the homeless community. Homeless shelters need to be better funded in order to be less exclusive; then, unhoused individuals will not need to spend nights on the streets. Housing needs to be made more affordable so that homelessness is not such as widespread condition. And to make it happen, the world needs to care about homeless people, not just whether they are hidden from view.