Hostile design is design meant to prevent various kinds of usage/interaction with objects, usually by vulnerable groups of people (Rosenberger, 2023). It is perhaps most commonly discussed about designs that prevent the usage of benches etc by the homeless. Robert Rosenberger (2023) presents a classification scheme which talks about the different types of Hostile Design one might come across.
Physical Imposition
When a design physically prevents certain interactions or engagements with an object. A common example in relation to Hostile Design against homelessness is creating barriers on benches to prevent anyone from laying down on the bench (Rosenberger, 2023), it can be “seats” where one lean against the seat rather than fully sit down, and so on.
Sensory Interference
Sensory interference includes the use of generating sensory stimuli that is annoying or unpleasant, for example through various usage of light and/or sound. Rosenberger (2023) comes with examples such as playing annoying sounds or loud music in parks and other public spaces have been used to drive away the unhoused. He also writes about the usage of unflattering lights, in the context of driving young people away from underpasses. However, I can also imagine lighting being used to create uncomfortable public spaces to take shelter at.
Concealment
This is when a certain usage or amenity is available in the public space, just that it is concealed in such a way one must know where it is or how to use it. Rosenberger (2023) brings up the example with public toilets being placed in unusual places and/or having no signage to guide the public to its location.
Confederacy
This includes the control of a public space, usually through the usage of security guards, police officers, cameras, or others placed to control a public space. For example some public spaces might have a receptionist and a sign in sheet in order to use the space (Rosenberger, 2023), or public rest rooms may have on-site staff controlling the payment gates to enter and exit the rest rooms. Rosenberger (2023) reflects on how the unhoused might not appreciate the monitoring where one needs to sign themselves into the public space, and how camera monitoring can trigger a fear of attracting attention to the authorities.
Self-coercion
Self-coercion is when design makes the public themselves avoid certain behaviour in a public space or refrain from a certain usage of an object. The most straightforward example is signage targeted at certain groups, for example signs that says “No Camping” targets the unhoused to try and prevent them from taking shelter in the area of said sign. Rosenberger (2023) also gives the examples of spikes on surfaces where one perhaps could lie, which is not only a physical imposition, but also an example of self-coercion. It shows the unhoused that they are not welcomed here, which could perhaps lead them away from the area.
Absence
Hostile design in the form of absence is that instead of simply limiting usage in the other ways mentioned, one removes the object altogether. This impacts the unhoused in the ways of leaving no place to rest once benches are fully removed, or lack of public restrooms in public areas (Rosenberger, 2023).
How these hostile designs could be turned to the more positive is something that could be researched further in the next post.
A method in the research phase of Service design is conducting interviews with the target group(s). Due to the short time period, I’ve tried to look for interviews online to gather information. What I wish to figure out is the perspective of the sellers and buyers. How is the experience for the sellers, do they enjoy their job? How do they sell? Are they comfortable and confident in what they are doing? Is it helping them earn money? And how is it for the buyers? Where and why did they buy the newspaper? Did they read it? How did they find the content? and so on.
In this blogpost I will focus on the sellers. I looked through a few Norwegian seller interviews I found on Erliks website as well as a couple of other global interviews from big issues websites and arab news. None of the interviews included the same questions. I copied the interviews into a document and marked “codes” of what I thought was important to the questions I would like to answer. After that I took the codes into post-its on FigJam and used affinity mapping to group the codes. The groups I created were location, time, sales tactic, magazine feedback, customer behaviour, selling difficulties, seller outcome, suggestions for improvements, and sellers experience with the service itself.
Let’s start with location, where the sellers would tend to locate themselves while selling. The sellers would choose strategic locations that are busy, such as metro stations, near a university, a touristy neighbourhood and shopping malls (Arab News, 2025; Skyrud, 2025a; Bu, 2025). Two of the people also spoke about their tactic in walking around instead of simply standing still, this was how one of them stood out (Arab News, 2025; Hetherington, Lu & Terzić, 2021). Another would stand in the middle of the crowd so that people had to pass by and would be unable to “ignore” them (Bu, 2025). When it comes to the time the sellers would sell, it wasn’t much mentioned in the interviews. One would say they sold when they needed the money (Bu, 2025). As the street newspaper service functions by letting the sellers choose where to sell and their working hours (INSP, n.d.).
Sales tactics were also quite often mentioned. Being kind and spreading a good mood through smiling and thanking and not letting your own irritations affect customers were mentioned (Arab News, 2025; Skyrud, 2025a, 2025b). One mentioned how he would let customers know that buying it is supporting them and the makers of the paper. The importance of not asking for more money or nagging the customers was also mentioned. As for the feedback of the magazine, one mentioned they would receive positive feedback and that people liked to read about the sellers of the magazine, but that some also buy it and seem to not read it. The same person also commented on how a magazine with a drawing on the frontpage sold really well and thought that people might like drawn frontpages.
As for the customer behaviour the sellers tend to experience, it seemed mostly positive, but some would experience poor behaviour (Bu, 2025; Skyrud, 2025). Two also talked about how they had put a mark on the area they were selling and how people would be well aware of who they are (Arab News, 2025; Hetherington, Lu & Terzić, 2021). Regular customers was also a point that was mentioned. As for difficulties when selling, one had a problem with people struggling with the digital payment method (Vipps) which seemed to cause stress as they seem to not have time to go through the payment method (Skyrud, 2025b). Another commented on the price that people should be able to afford it as it’s only the price of two coffees (Skyrud, 2025a). The interviewee from Paris had also experienced a big drop in sales over his long career as a newspaper seller (Arab News, 2025).
As for the sellers’ experience with the street newspaper service, one talked about how they were a mentor for new sellers and that the mentor program had great success (Bu, 2025). As a mentor they would teach new sellers how to sell the magazines, giving tips on small things such as how to hold it, or help with language. In one of the interviews one came with tips for improving the service as a whole by promoting the magazine more online – since that’s where the people are (Skyrud, 2025a). For sellers, getting a sense of dignity, interacting with others and doing something that helped them share their story with others were positive outcomes mentioned (Arab News, 2025; Bu, 2025; Hetherington, Lu & Terzić, 2021).
What could we take with us from these interviews? Well it seems as though figuring out how and where the sellers should position themselves for best sales could be interesting to look at, for example they tend to place themselves in busy areas, while one mentioned that they felt like customers were in a rush and did not feel like they had time to figure out the payment method. The payment process is also important, as people tend to carry less cash, other payment methods might be more time-consuming or impractical for street newspaper sales. Further we have the design of the magazine and its content itself. Some people like reading the stories of the sellers in the magazine, while people seem to buy it to support, yet they do not seem to read the magazine. Then there is the aspect of the design of the magazine itself if that could help start a talking point or promote sales. Which leads to the marketing of the magazines and its exposure online in order to promote more sales and open up another channel to support and communicate.
The obvious problems that exist when it comes to homelessness is the need for a roof over their head, food, and access to basic hygiene and healthcare. Another problem is how to prevent homelessness, what to do when someone is at risk of ending up on the street or couch surfing between friends and family. The homeless also face a lot of stigma, where they can often be seen as lazy or dirty (Unity Parenting, n.d.). Some are also worried that the money the homeless are given or earned will be used on drug misuse (Forskning.no, 2017). This creates a barrier that prevents others from helping entirely, or creates a barrier which makes it difficult to know how to best help without indirectly inflicting more harm. Which is the last problem I’ve decided to bring up; the lack of awareness or knowledge on how to help the homeless or people in need. In Norway only 10% said that they understand the current situation regarding homelessness in Norway (Frelsesarmeen, n.d.).
Limitations
In order to limit the scope of the coming research I have looked at what demographics I wish to focus on. Demographics to consider is location, which environment/group, and age. My interest primarily lies in looking at Norway and/or Austria with a primary focus on looking at the homeless and those of us who are lucky to have a roof over our heads.
Moving forward I would like to focus on the topic of service design and look at how the services that the homeless are a part of creating help contribute to bringing them back to society and the local community. While also exploring the possible combination of existing design or the design of new services that can make it easier for the local community to help and/or to meet and create connections with those who are in need.
Todays solutions
Stigma and not knowing how to help are two problems that go hand-in-hand, where people are worried where the money will go and not sure what to do instead. In an article from forskining.no Allan Andersen advised one could simply give food instead. Which is a good thing to do, but it does not help them out of the situation more than their current hunger. In some areas there are also food services provided by organizations where the homeless can come in for meals or pick up groceries. Another service that contributes to food distribution is Billas donating scheme where they donate food to partner organizations (Billa, n.d.). In some stores it is also possible for customers to buy and donate food by leaving it in the donation containers in the stores.
However, what I believe could be a possible downside to this food distribution is that it takes away some of their independence. Perhaps they would like to be able to go to a store and buy groceries like everyone else and cook their own meal as any other would do. SNAP in the US allows for this where they are given an electronic card, similar to a credit card, that can for example be used to get food from soup kitchens or to buy groceries (United States Department of Agriculture, n.d.). This is a service that in a way is designed to help people in need to be able to have the freedom and independence to go buy what they need when they need it. However, without a kitchen to cook in, one is limited to buying pre-prepped meals even in the stores. Adding the availability for open community kitchens, where one can come to cook or learn how to cook, would be a good addition to the service as a whole.
There are also services provided by organizations that allow for homeless or people in need to gain work experience and money. Most commonly is the selling of newspapers on the street. This is a service that is offered to those in need where they can buy magazines for a small price, and sell it for more. This allows those in need to also provide a service for others. In an article Claudia Magallanes-Blanco & Juan Antonio Pérez-Bermúdez (2009) discuss how such a service can help to empower the homeless. It does so through the employment itself, being able to share their story with others, and by creating networks. From the interviews it is brought forward how the selling of the magazines offers a space where they can talk to and meet others, becoming a part of society and integrating with the community surrounding them. Unfortunately for the street magazines in Norway, there has been a decline in the amount of sellers since they first started. Although they are unsure of the cause, the editor of Erlik, who produces the magazine =Oslo, saw that a lot of sellers who weren’t returning were those actively taking drugs (NTB, 2024).
The organization Erlik also runs a coffee shop where the staff primarily consists of people with a background of drug use. In an interview from 2017 the environmental therapist and barista at =Kaffe, Gunvor Hægstad, said that people would usually be quite social and talk with strangers while having a coffee at =Kaffe (Tanase, 2017). In the same interview Hæstag also mentions that they have more employees working at the same time as it might run a little slower than most coffee shops. These are good examples of how they have adjusted their process in order to keep up with demand, and how they have managed to create a welcoming and safe atmosphere.
Magallanes-Blanco, C., & Pérez-Bermúdez, J. A. (2009). Citizens’ publications that empower: social change for the homeless. Development in practice, 19(4-5), 654-664. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520902866306
Growing up I noticed how people saw homeless as an annoyance and inconvenience where they were asking for help outside grocery stores or train stations. I grew up with discussions on the ban of begging and sleeping in public spaces. Movies displayed homelessness as a dystopian, dirty world, fueled with narcotics. In my later years I learned about Hostile Design – where benches are designed in such a way where one can’t comfortably sleep on them. Everywhere homelessness would be seen as a problem. A distance between “us” and “them” was created, a divided community.
This summer I travelled across the ocean to enjoy Irish folk music, while Cillian sang his heart out on the street to earn enough for today’s meal. I paid to watch a sheepherding demonstration in the Irish countryside, while Molly was begging for money on O’Connell Street to feed her dog. I paid well over a hundred euro to sleep in the dorms of Trinity College, while Dublin is undergoing a shelter crisis. As I am learning to think on my own I am also learning to see everyone for who they are, simply humans trying to get by. I would like to help those that are less privileged, those who make themselves so vulnerable because they have no other option.
What I wish to focus on in my research is how design can help tighten the local communities – the relationship between the homeless and those who are not, which then also can result in a stronger feeling of dignity and independence for the homeless. Research questions could include:
How can Positive Design and Interaction Design be used to create/improve a service/product that …
strengthens the local community?
creates a stronger sense of dignity and independence for the homeless?
Existing Design
Several services and products exist or are being developed today to make the days pass by more easily for those who are sleeping rough. Help stations provide services like food stations where meals are prepared or groceries can be picked up. In the United States there is a program called SNAP where homeless are given a card that can be used to buy their own groceries, while also providing other helpful services (United States Department of Agriculture, n.d.).
Previous research includes researching and creating UX design for applications aiding the homeless (Burrows et al., 2019) and those working for organizations providing shelters to the homeless (Pratt, 2024). Other various designs that can aid the homeless in their daily life that have been researched are small shelters and lockers to keep them and their belongings safe (Makris, 2024). Maps have been distributed that include an overview of important resources (Kennedy, 2016), and in some countries one can find trash bins with spaces for cans to be placed so that they can more easily collect “pfand” to earn some money to get by.
Figure 1: Example image of Hostile Design (Davison, 2023)
Figure 2: Example image of trash can with space for “pfand” (KBH Pant, 2015)
Relevance for the Design Fields
Positive design has a goal to increase the happiness and well being of individuals. It’s about designing for pleasure – to design comforting and joyful experiences, to design for personal significance – to design for goals and aspirations, and design for virtue – to design for good behaviour (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013). These are all qualities that are important to keep in mind when you are designing a service or product for a community that is meant to bring joy, to inspire and promote good behaviour.
When it comes to focusing on the particular target group of the ones sleeping rough I find it important to design fields as one to this day still finds hostile design in our infrastructure, and it can be hard to know where and how to provide the best help. In the light of the topic of inclusivity, the homeless, alongside other groups, have their own specific needs that should be put into consideration when designing for the general population.
Future research process
In the first phase of the research I will have to go deeper into exploring the topic, I will need to gain a better understanding of the different problems and needs of the target groups (both the homeless, and those who are not) and to look at and categorise various approaches. From here I can try to narrow down the problems, and choose an approach to focus on. This might include some changes to the research question and sub-questions. A literature review could also be helpful thereafter to find relevant papers. Eventually I will have a more clear goal and can move to the phase of the research process where I can gather some data.
When gathering data both qualitative and quantitative information gathering may be useful in order to understand perspectives and outlooks on the problem within a community. This could be done with one to one interviews or surveys with open ended questions (qualitative) or a typical survey with close ended questions (quantitative). As I aim to look at the problem from a community based outlook the target groups include both the homeless and those who are not.
When researching and gathering data there are several institutions that could be helpful to use or get in contact with. Besides looking for research papers through Google Scholar, there are various organizations both in Austria and Norway that could be contact points. Caritas, Red Cross/Røde Kors, Erlik, Asfalt and International Network of Street Papers, could be some.
Research Challenges
As I see it the first challenge will be to limit the research scope and questions. Later comes problems related to data gathering. Here the main challenge will be communication with the target group, the homeless. First of all I do not speak German well which can cause communication barriers. Secondly, it’s a vulnerable group that lacks the safety most of us take for granted and are always exposed to various kinds of exploitation, communication should therefore be done in a space in which they feel safe and comfortable.
Sources
Burrows, R., Mendoza, A., Sterling, L., Miller, T., & Pedell, S. (2019). Evaluating ask izzy: A mobile web app for people experiencing homelessness. In Proceedings of 17th European conference on computer-supported cooperative work. European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18420/ecscw2019_ep17
Kennedy, C. M. (2016). Designing for equality: how a social design approach can make a difference. International Journal of Arts and Technology, 9(3), 187-198. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJART.2016.078608
Pratt, C. (2024). Technology and Homelessness: How Website Design and Blockchain Technology Could Impact the Unhoused. (Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals. 38.) https://digitalcommons.du.edu/undergraduate_theses/38
