Encountering Homelessness: Collective Life as Infrastructure in New York City’s Penn Station

• In Event: 40821 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7. Governing Homelessness

Abstract

How does the use of hostile architecture—an exclusionary design used to deter certain groups of people—affect people’s use of key facilities in urban public spaces? This study examines the impact of hostile architecture in urban transportation hubs, focusing on New York City's Penn Station complex. Through an ethnographic study of the Penn Station complex, I will use participant observation and interviews to investigate how people interact with hostile spatial designs and policies such as ticketed seating areas. The research will explore how the unhoused, who linger within and around the Penn Station complex, navigate sheltering spaces in response to these hostile features. Additionally, it will address how these hostile designs and the scrutiny of these public facilities affect train passengers. By focusing on key public spaces in urban transit systems, this study aims to contribute to ongoing discussions about social exclusion in public spaces and urban planning.

Author

• Hart M. Zhang, CUNY-Graduate Center