On a graffiti-strewn sidewalk in Paris, a strange sight appeared days before the Olympic opening ceremony in July: about 40 giant Lego-like cement blocks in neat rows beneath the Pont de Stains, a bridge in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers that connects two Olympic sites, the Stade de France and the Parc des Nations.
This place used to be a homeless camp, where about 100 people, many of them migrants, lived in tents. July 17thThe police arrived and He instructed everyone to leave.as part of a clean-up operation in which the authorities placed homeless people, members of the Roma community, migrants and sex workers. on the buses to other cities, such as Bordeaux or Toulouse.
Once authorities cleared the area, activists say, immovable concrete blocks were installed in place of the tents, dashing any idea that former residents might ever return.
Activists say these bricks are an example of hostile architecture, a term used to describe some of the more visible changes cities and businesses make to discourage homeless people from loitering or sleeping on their properties. “This is not new, but it has been intensified in a very specific way during the Olympics,” says Antoine de Clerck, part of Le Revers de la Médaille, an activist group that raises awareness about how marginalized people are treated during the Olympics.
“We are not advocating camps, squats or shanty towns,” de Clerck adds. “But to eradicate them, long-term alternative solutions must be found.”
Despite other examples of hostile architecture in Paris, including picnic tables Where people once slept, giant Lego-like blocks have been the most controversial. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Jules Boykoff, a professor and former professional footballer who studies the impact of the Olympics on marginalized communities. “Typically, hostile architecture is more subtle,” he says, “like a curved bus bench that makes it less comfortable for someone to sleep.”
Anti-home spikes and rough surfaces have been installed at a luxury housing complex to deter homeless people from sleeping in the area around Limehouse Basin Marina in London, UKPhoto: Julio Etchart/ullstein bild via Getty Images