hostile architecture

American  

[hos-tl ahr-ki-tek-cher, hos-tahyl] / ˈhɒs tl ˈɑr kɪˌtɛk tʃər, ˈhɒs taɪl /

noun

1. design elements of public buildings and spaces that are intended to stop unwanted behavior such as loitering or sleeping in public by making such behavior difficult and uncomfortable.

   The new park was filled with hostile architecture such as spikes on flat surfaces and hard, narrow benches.

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Etymology

Origin of hostile architecture

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Hostile architecture and novel ways of trying to disperse homeless people have become somewhat common in L.A. in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times

In “City of Quartz,” historian Mike Davis identified fences as part of an effort to police social boundaries with hostile architecture.

From Los Angeles Times

But outside the Antwerp hospital — where, as it happened, many of the rooftop spikes had gone missing — the magpies had managed to convert hostile architecture into a home.

From New York Times

Goodman is well within his rights to put up hostile architecture to try and fend off sea lions.

From Seattle Times

Hostile architecture imagines a model citizen who is expensively caffeinated, constantly perched and poised, never in need of anyone or anything to lean on, forever ready to get up and go earn and spend.

From New York Times