In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about the politics of artifacts. Artifacts exert power over people. This is not necessarily wrong, by the way. Artifacts can em-power people. For example, a paper cup can contribute to clean desks in offices. Paper cups have a script that says: throw me away after use.

However artifacts can overpower people and become coercive. Like the bridges of Robert Moses.

To understand the production of social patterns by artifacts we must contest artifacts and open up the black box that conceals the inner social-technological workings of artifacts.

In 2018, Robert Rosenberg wrote a pamphlet on this phenomenon (Callous objects, Design against homelessness). His argument is that law and design come together to force homeless people out of public spaces and into even more danger and deprivation. In his view, this treatment of the "unhoused" is immoral, unjust and unnecessary.

In this pamphlet Rosenberg uses the design of bench in public parks, bus stops etc as example of a callous object. Bench are designed for one purpose: a place to sit on. This is called the dominant purpose. At the same time benches are sometimes also used for a second purpose: to lie on. Benches are, to use the words of Don Ihde, multistable.

However for some political reason, cities want to avoid homeless people to lay down on benches. So they manufacture benches in such a way that it is impossible to lie down on a bench.

I asked myself the question wether in public space in Eindhoven there are such benches. The answer is yes. The bench shown on the picture is in a park near a large healthcare facility. As you can see, this bench does not really invite you to lie down on it. But before we jump to the conclusion that this is immoral and unjust, I ask you to look carefully at the design of this bench. As you can see, the seat of this bench is a bit higher than the seat of ordinary benches. At the bottom of the bench, there is a connecting piece where people can put their feet on it. Furthermore, the bench is equipped with armrests that you can use to push off when standing up. As you can imagine, this is a handy bench for the elderly people from the health care facility use this bench during their walk in the park to rest and enjoy park life.