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iheartmolly

Four different perspectives

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he always looks so good but cologne…. something in the air shifted fr…

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ok so i guess i need to be a bird now…

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kim’s article about the mixed-use sidewalk made me think about how property rights apply within washington, and more specifically, in seattle. it made me question the relationship between property law and a society’s common understanding of space, since i think seattle also faces significant public space issues. i know that the mayor of seattle recently allocated over $200 million toward homelessness response, which directly relates to how public spaces, like benches, are used. i’m not entirely sure whether sidewalks and benches carry the same level of cultural meaning, but i think they both function as shared public spaces used by different people at different times of day.

during my first year of university, i liked to sit on park benches and eat takeout after a difficult exam. i would argue that people experiencing homelessness often use benches for similar purposes. however, because of the status i occupy as someone who is housed, i feel like there is exclusion within the city’s vision of who uses these public spaces, which leads to spatial and economic segregation. for example, the benches i used to enjoy takeout were replaced with concrete ones that had metal bars in the middle. this frustrated me because not only was there less space for me to sit and place my bag or food, but it also felt like the city had deliberately designed these benches to discourage rest and comfort.

i really think that benches are an underrated public amenity that generate significant social benefits. my friends and i used them to people-watch, read, and journal, which are all activities that contribute to the liveliness and enjoyment of the surrounding area, not just the physical space the bench itself occupies. we even had a shared google maps folder of our favorite benches and tables in local parks. but over time, we noticed that many of our bookmarked spaces had been renovated to enforce a political governance structure rather than promote social well-being. the shift in bench design shows the broader regulatory mindset in seattle, which dictates who can access space, when, and for what purpose. now, benches are treated strictly as places to sit, which feels like a narrow interpretation of public space, especially since, as the reading emphasizes, sidewalks themselves are not spatially limited to moving from point a to point b.

after reading professor jung and c. anderson’s paper about representing spatial inequality, i started to wonder what a critical geovisualization comparing anti-homeless benches (especially the ones with divider bars) and non-divided benches would show. i would guess that there would be a correlation with income inequality or spatial segregation. whenever i visit bellevue to get molly tea, i often sit on a bench to enjoy it, and i’ve noticed that those benches rarely have divider bars. some even have small side tables attached, which i appreciate but also find interesting. what allows bellevue to have benches that are actually comfortable, while seattle spends so much money to install benches that inconvenience its users?

#architecture #food for thought