I am Dutch and as a regular train user I have seen these benches for years now without ever wondering why the armrests were there, apart from allowing sitting more comfortably. But indeed, the awkwardly sparing application of the armrests would perfectly fit an ulterior motive. Though, when they first appeared I remember finding them a nice upgrade as IIRC the old benches had no armrests at all but that's many many years ago.
7 months ago | 15
Such ban-the-homeless benches are coming up everywhere in Germany. My wife was in ReHa (health rehabilitation centre) in Bernkastel-Kues and even there, 3 km from the village centre, and almost 150 m above the village in a quiet suburban area, they had some of those benches.
7 months ago | 7
A better question should be what is the local authority doing to solve homelessness, not how can we design benches in stations for homeless people to sleep on? I don't think station benches are a good place for homeless people to sleep TBH. Finland's solution was to actually provide homeless people with accommodation to help them get back into the world as functioning humans again and it worked very well so I hear.
7 months ago
| 12
As you were in Utrecht and are imterested in spatial planning you might have also seen the bus stops with grass growing on the roof. That's hood for bees and the like and it helps tp cool down the city a bit. I suggested to do it in my town, too. We got it now. Also interesting: the concept of Transferium, in all bigger dutch cities. You got a Park & Ride outside the city right at the highway. Your parking ticket includes free ride on public transport to the city center for up to 5 people. By that they keep the cars outside the city. It's cheaper then taking the stress through narrow crowded streets and park in a parkeer garage in the city center. And as we are there the concept of the OV chipkartje is nice, too. But Deutschlandticket now makes it unnecessary over here. Finally I suggest to gave a closer look to the dutch bicycle knoopunt navigation system. They have knots with a map where you can see the next knots in your surroundings. You create a 50 km route passing perhaps 10 knots. Then you just write down the 10 numbers of the knots go to the first knot abd follow the little arrow with the number of your next knot. Tiny signs saying it all. You can plan a tour from (Belgium through the Netherlands and the west of NRW who are all taking part) like that with an App at home and then simply navigate through the world. Genius idea.
7 months ago
| 0
This happened in the counties where Fort Lauderdale and Miami are about 20 years ago. I can understand why they did this for the daytime. People who are not able to stand long for the bus need to be able to sit. At night, when the buses don't run, it's bullshit. Now, the governor made it illegal to lay down anywhere in the state of Florida. After major backlash, he changed it to only designated areas.
7 months ago | 5
I'm dutch and one side of these benches is long enough for a 1.98m person to sleep comfortably. Source: me, Ive slept there twice when I missed my last train.
7 months ago
| 2
For older People it's easier to sit down and stand up with a arm rest. Older People use public transport a lot.
7 months ago | 0
It’s not just in Utrecht and Freiburg that this is happening Ashton. Here in my town of Whanganui in New Zealand 🇳🇿 we have bus stops and shelters that purposely use arm rests to stop the seats from being used as benche
7 months ago
| 4
I am a civil engineer and work in planning and constructing pulic places. Hostile architecture is a thing and a terrible one in my opinion. There can be valid reasons for designing a bench "hostile" thou. The one in the pictures for example offers the options for single passangers to sit and maintain some seperation to other passangers which is nice. Armrests also are important for disabled people trying to sit down and get up from that bench. I recently broke my leg and now see how certain design philosophies are really important if you are somehow disabled - like installing handles to grab all over the place.
7 months ago (edited) | 3
❤❤❤ always love new content from you. But anti human design to make homeless go somewhere else is barbaric 🤬
7 months ago (edited) | 0
I've seen a specific design of a bench in Tel Aviv. It had a small table instead of an armrest in the middle, although it still was hostile towards those who would like to lay on the bench, it brought a specific benefit as two people could have a proper lunch on that bench or even a game of chess.
7 months ago
| 0
peak confirmation bias, these sleep fine and isnt hostile architecture. not every arms rest is some insidious plot
7 months ago | 4
If we want more people to use public transport we need to make the train stations a more pleasant place. It's not inviting to have homeless people allover the place (they deserve better than a train station too).
7 months ago
| 1
This is actually the improved, more comfortable version. The old benches at NS trainstations for 2000 and beyond look more like the ones you show at your local trainstation in the video. These newer ones are a tad friendlier (but only used in more busy places)
7 months ago | 1
Public transportation won't become more attractive if train stations remain a homeless people hotspot. They are aggressive, stink and leave trash/human waste everywhere. Those benches aren't and shouldn't be beds for them. Homeless friendly benches also keep the homeless away from actual housing projects that work well in the Netherlands.
7 months ago | 3
Homelessness is such a complicated topic that cannot be "fixed" with money alone as there's also a moral element to it. So many people feel useless to society and it's where they end up. Such sad circumstances.
7 months ago
| 7
The worst problem of Utrecht central is finding the rail tracks. For many years now it has been a badly organised shopping center with its real purpose, being a railway station is well hidden. the Netherlands at their very worst.
7 months ago | 1
Type Ashton
For the last week I've been out and about around the Netherlands (hint at new content coming soon 😍)
But these benches caught my eye at the Central Station in Utrecht. This week's video I talk about the increasing use of "hostile architecture" in my city and cities around the globe.
Interestingly, just as much as these designs are intentionally trying to make it uncomfortable to sit or lie down, they are also intended to not be noticed.
Here in Utrecht, these arm rests were intentionally added so that you cannot lie down on this bench.
Check out this week's video for a walk through of my city of Freiburg and you'll notice all kinds of "uncomfortable" design choices, including awkward benches, homeless spikes, and the cost of these measures.
7 months ago | [YT] | 202