Hostile Architecture
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
Architectural features designed to exclude specific groups or discourage certain behaviors. Examples include benches with armrests to prevent sleeping, and concrete studs to deter skateboarding.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Design ethics: Examine your product design—are you "serving users" or invisibly "excluding users"? For instance, a deliberately hard-to-find account cancellation button in an app is a digital version of hostile architecture.
Anchor fast decisions
Uses environmental design to prevent specific groups from using public spaces (e.g., anti-sleep armrests, spikes), replacing management with "physical deterrence." It is a typical example of "presupposed exclusion" in design ethics.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_architectureverified
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