Not to sound like a Boomer, but whatever happened to sitting in public?

To me, it feels like two developments occurred simultaneously. First, the world largely moved to a “minimalist” design language for both public and private spaces. Your restaurant wasn’t going to get a good write-up unless it looked like an IKEA showroom, and if your house didn’t have uncomfortable furniture with perfectly square edges, you were seen as no longer being “with it,” whatever “it” is.

Second, and more importantly, people went a little overboard with hostile architecture. The fear of “unhoused people having a place to sleep” resulted in the removal of benches, spikes being placed on every flat plane, and public spaces that just look, well, hostile.

Plus, even if you think you’ve found a safe place to sit, you can’t always be certain, as this woman painfully learned.

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