Norwich City Council, in apparent solidarity with rough sleepers, are taking away armrests from public benches so that night sleepers can stretch out more. This is an endeavour to be more supportive of those reduced to turning public spaces into temporary dormitories.
For perhaps the last 20 years many local authorities and private property owners have been doing the exact opposite. Putting metal bolts on flat spaces so that they become impossible to sit on, let alone lie on. ‘Social dislodgement’ you might call it; architectural solutions to social problems. One of the canniest inventions was to turn bus shelter seats slightly tilted so that after a short time you began to slip off.
It’d be really easy to sleep on your side or back with your legs on the side or on top of that. Are you sure it was designed as hostile architecture and not just an art piece?
Honestly, I have no idea. It just seems really dumb to make a bench to fit multiple people then block off half of it with a glass ball? It was on a residential street iirc on the way to Boscombe beach.