ii. power without ownership
[f16]
Camden Bench, 2012
This bench was commissioned by the Camden London Borough Council and installed throughout Camden. The request for a design that deinfluences certain behaviors, restricting the use solely for tempororay sitting. Public use objects that are designed to inhibit certain behaviors are known as hostile architecture.
[f17]
A desire path formed from repetitive people taking the alternate route than what is paved. Design and power have an embedded relationship. Whether it is spatially, visually, or materially, a designer holds the power to define how objects will be made, used, and the impact they could have. Independently, the designer has the power to define such conditions for their own desires and needs. Though when a designer’s skills are requested by an owner for themselves, the designer’s power comes second to satisfy the owner’s desires and needs. In conditions where the owner requests a designer’s skill for other users to benefit, there is a dance of power between the owner and designer, while ultimately resting in the hands of the owner. There do exist design processes in which the public users are invited to participate in decision making processes, however the input given is one of many deciding factors that may or may not see light at the end of the design process. Users may choose to engage with the results of the designer’s and owner’s decisions, however the engagement is set within parameters determined for specific intents and purposes.
This leaves users grappling with moments of power and having to release. Relinquishing deciding power, users settle on limited agency. Using what they are given to achieve what they desire. The limits of power, control, and degrees of agency are directly related to the lack of ownership. What one does not own, they are likely to tread lightly.