There is always an aspect of coercion to design. In the commercial world, design is used to get you to buy things you don’t need or use your iPhone in a prescribed way. Cities use design to shape our behavior, too. They employ both subtle and overt forms of influence in public spaces to make life more difficult for “undesirable” populations and to curb “antisocial” behavior. Whether you are the target or a beneficiary of hostile design, it’s crucial to recognize when we’re replacing human interaction with hard, physical, nonnegotiable solutions.
