A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 21-8, regarding eliminating hostile architecture

C I T Y O F C A M B R I D G E Community Development Department 344 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 Voice: [phone removed] Fax: [phone removed] TTY: [phone removed] www.cambridgema.gov IRAM FAROOQ Assistant City Manager for Community Development SANDRA CLARKE Deputy Director Chief of Administration KHALIL MOGASSABI Deputy Director Chief Planner To: Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager From: Iram Farooq, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Owen O’Riordan, Commissioner, Public Works Department Date: April 20, 2022 Re: Policy Order POR 2021 #23 dated February 8, 2021 re ‘hostile architecture’ in public spaces and approach to ensuring that existing bench fixtures and public seating supports all residents who use them ‘Defensive design’, sometimes called ‘hostile architecture’ are strategies used in the design of public spaces and public amenities to guide or restrict behavior. While typically intended to create safety, these can sometimes create exclusionary results. Common examples include benches with armrests positioned to stop people from lying down, ledges with metal clamps to prevent skateboarding, and handrails with spikes preventing users from sliding down. By limiting the use of a space, such measures disproportionately impact people who rely more on public space, including the unhoused. However, depending on context and use of the space, certain design interventions, which may be viewed as hostile, may serve a positive public health and safety function. For instance, bollards, which may seem like a barrier, generally serve as an important safety measure to separate vehicular traffic from pedestrian spaces. It is, therefore, important to consider site conditions and user perspectives from both a safety and inclusion perspective. For example, a well-designed plaza may include a mix of benches with and without armrests. This variety would allow people to lay down and rest while also providing arm support to those that need assistance raising or lowering themselves. We note that the City’s standard benches now used by the Department of Public Works are 6 feet long with arm rests at the ends. They do not include middle arm rests and are accommodating to all users. To formalize principles for inclusion in design while balancing different public space goals, the Community Development Department is starting a process to develop Public Realm Design Guidelines. These guidelines will recommend principles for creating high quality public spaces that encourage pedestrian activity, provide public amenities, promote social interaction, and create a welcoming environment. The guidelines will include design principles for creating inclusive public spaces; recommendations on universally accessible and welcoming street furniture; and streetscape standards for public spaces in Cambridge, including sidewalks, plazas, and parks. The City will use these to guide design of new public space – both City-owned spaces and privately owned public spaces. We also expect the guidelines to be an important tool when existing spaces are being redesigned to make any needed changes to ensure that public spaces in Cambridge are welcoming and inclusive to all.

2 The Department of Public Works has begun a survey of all those benches the city is responsible for, be it in parks, in squares, at bus stops or along various streets throughout the city. Preliminary counts indicate that there are in excess of 600 hundred benches citywide. Of those that we have surveyed thus far, approximately 1/3 have bars across the middle that divide the bench in half. The majority of these appear to be easily modified to allow for the bar to be fully removed and/or relocated. In some of the older model benches the bars were part of the original design making them impossible to modify. In those case we will evaluate the need for full bench replacement or look to relocate benches to locations where there are other options available to people and ensure that the benches suit the location and adequately provide an inclusive space for neighbors and visitors. While the Department of Public Works has already begun removing bars from benches in various locations in parks and elsewhere, in furtherance of the council order request DPW will work with the Department of Human Services, the Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Council on Aging, and other relevant departments as we move through this evaluation and relocation/removal and replacement process.