Ekskluderende design – social eksklusion i byens rum

To the homeless and many socially excluded people the city´s streets, stations and public places are where they spend most of their days and nights. But their presence is far from always welcome and many property owners and city developers aim to move them to other areas using Dark Design that is either physical i.e. leaning benches or iron spikes and by law and regulations.

The project “Dark Design – social exclusion in urban places” investigates how a combination of design and law in the public urban spaces in Denmark serves the purpose of rejecting socially vulnerable and homeless people and aim to force them out of the cities`public spaces. An effect that go directly against Sustainable Development Goal number 11 that targets sustainable cities and the ability of cities to embrace diversity and include socially vulnerable people.

We investigate how social exclusion is created via design of urban spaces and how widespread it is along with social exclusion by criminalization. We also ask, how does it feel to be subject to Dark Design and criminalization and will create a number of tools that can enable dialogue between homeless people, NGOs, municipalities, property owners and authorities.

Project funded by the VELUX Foundations

5.033.372 Kr bevilliget af Velux Fondets HUMAN Praxis Call til undersøgelse af hvordan design af eksempelvis skrå bænke i byrummet samme med ny lovgivning om kriminalisering af "utryghedsskabende" lejre er medvirkende til at ekskludere hjemløse og socialt udsatte i byens rum. Projektet foregår i samarbejde med Københavns Kommune og en række NGO'ere i hovedstaden. Disse NGO'er er: Projekt Udenfor, Foreningen Minoritet, SAND og Kirkens Korshær.