The public bench is vanishing. Cities across the developed world have systematically removed, replaced, or redesigned seating to discourage loitering, primarily targeting homeless populations. The result is public space that is hostile to everyone.
This piece from Sidebar argues the bench is a proxy for who cities believe public space is for. The details matter here: the specific design choices, the hostile architecture trend, and the municipal policies driving removal. The argument is not sentimental. It is structural.
What comes next is the real question. If public seating declines, so does incidental social contact, rest for the elderly and disabled, and the basic premise of shared civic life. Read the full piece for the case that a bench is not furniture. It is policy.
[READ ORIGINAL →]