City Unlocked
Product Design, Art Direction, poetry
According to the homeless charity Crisis, homeless people are increasingly being forced out of public spaces by hostile architecture such as anti-homeless spikes, curved or segregated benches, gated doorways that make sitting or lying down impossible, and deliberate noise pollution.
In the research they conducted in 2016, over 450 people were surveyed in homelessness services across England and Wales. Six in ten people reported an increase over the last year in defensive architecture. Over the same period, 35% of people reported they were unable to find anywhere to sleep or rest as a result.
A collaboration between IKEA and homeless charity Crisis on the City Unlocked project to raise awareness about increasingly hostile public spaces; and the impact it has on people sleeping rough. The aim is to put a stop to the use of defensive architecture which has infiltrated our cities and will reclaim the free use of public space. But ultimately to make the streets a more comfortable place for all.
