The view is beautiful but this Brisbane bench is a little bit hostile

Brisbane is rife with examples of quiet ways people are encouraged not to linger.

Like the seats on Kurilpa Bridge. The view is gorgeous, but the bench is a little bit hostile.

You can enjoy the view of the city and South Bank from the bridge, but the surface is hard – you probably won’t stay there for long.

The metal brackets are designed to deter skateboarders, and make it unpleasant to lie down.

In the 1990s, urban theorist Mike Davis was one of the first critics of hostile architecture in Los Angeles, arguing “bum-proof” design was increasingly privatising the public realm.

The phenomenon is common in urban centres worldwide, and includes boulders under overpasses to stop people camping, armrests on park benches to prevent sleeping, spikes in alcoves, bolts on steps to discourage sitting or lying down, and sprinklers turned on overnight to prevent loitering.

It is just one way urban living has evolved, with researchers in the US finding people lingering in public spaces declined by 14 per cent from 1980 to 2010.

In Brisbane, the state government installed large sandstone blocks under the Kurilpa Bridge to deter rough sleepers in 2018.

However, it seems to have had little effect. Dozens of tents were seen this week, despite authorities periodically clearing people and possessions.

Before it was built, the design crime prevention report for Queen’s Wharf said furniture should be designed to “minimise anti-social behaviour”, such as by including armrests to prevent sleeping.

In King George Square, outside City Hall, classical music blared from speakers from midnight to 6am. It was introduced in response to “anti-social behaviour” in 2012, but has since been discontinued.

Across Brisbane, some benches have armrests in the middle of a bench. At some train stations, weary travellers might have to use a lean rail instead of a bench.

Queensland Rail said they were usually installed to save space, and all stations had options including accessible seating.

“Lean rails provide passengers with a convenient waiting option by allowing passengers to perch or lean, when waiting for short periods of time, or when other seating options would not be appropriate due to space,” QR’s head of south-east Queensland, Neil Backer, said.

“The amount of seating and lean rails at Queensland Rail stations is provided based on expected waiting times and levels of anticipated patronage for the station.”

Dr Natalie Osborne, an urban planning expert from Griffith University, said hostile architecture sent a clear message about who was, and was not, welcome in public spaces, and what behaviours were acceptable.

Osborne said it particularly targeted rough sleepers, and suggested they did not “belong in nice public spaces”.

“It has this quite dehumanising effect, I think, of treating homeless people like their presence is a problem to be solved, rather than that homelessness is the problem that needs to be solved,” she said.

“It’s having the same effect as calling the cops and asking them to move someone on.”

Dr Kirsty Volz, a senior lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, said some of the less noticeable examples of hostile architecture included surveillance and lighting.

“Using intense lighting can stop people from sleeping at night in certain areas, and in general, our CBDs are brighter than they used to be, particularly because of the cheap proliferation of LED lights,” she said.

Professor Antony Moulis, from the School of Architecture at The University of Queensland, said the city was generally made for temporary use and moving through.

“You might sit down for a little while, but you’re not going to be there for long,” he said.

“And so that kind of use is built into the ways in which that is provided, rather than providing you with a kind of architecture you’d be comfortable in for hours at a time or overnight.”

He said some people would still find creative ways to use public spaces differently, such as parkour.

While hostile architecture aims to discourage behaviour in a quiet way, attempts to move on homeless people are not always so subtle.

In March 2025, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner declared Brisbane’s rough sleepers would be given 24 hours to move on, and empty tents would be removed from parks.

“We’re now withdrawing the option to live permanently in a park in a tent,” he said, at the time.

The move was decried by advocates who warned people did not want to sleep in parks, but rather had nowhere else to go.

Authorities continue to periodically clear out Kurilpa Point Park, Musgrave Park and other public spaces, but tents return a short time later.

A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said public seats were designed to withstand the elements, provide a space for people to rest and meet necessary standards, including for mobility.

“We deliver various types of seating across our suburbs, so everyone can enjoy using our parks, playgrounds and public transport services,” she said.

“Meanwhile, we continue to work alongside the Department of Housing and Queensland Police to get people into safe and secure accommodation, while improving safety in community spaces.”

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