For the 2022 London Festival of Architecture, DNCO curated Uncivic Space, an exhibition about hostile architecture. We created a glossary list of terms associated with the subject, some obviously hostile and others seemingly neutral.

Because what is hostile in the urban environment all depends on who you are and what you’re doing. You can read more about how these tactics are used here.

Anti-climb paint
Armrests
Arrowslits
Autonomous vehicles with surveillance cameras
‘Baby Shark’
Barbed wire
Barking alarm
Barred corners
Beach tags
Benches
Berlin Wall
Bollards
Border wall
Boulders
Bouncers
Blue lights
Bright lights
Broken glass
Camden bench

Castle moat
Castle murder holes
CCTV cameras
Classical music
Concrete blocks
Concrete spikes
Crenellations
Curved benches
Decorative blocks
Electric bird deterrent system
Electric fencing
Fake CCTV
Fences
Gates
Guard dogs
Ghost amenities
Great Wall of China
Hadrian’s Wall
Hoardings
Industrial noises
Low bridges
Metal bars
Metal spikes
McDonald’s dining chairs
The Mosquito
Neighbourhood Watch signs
No cruising zones
No loitering signs
No parking signs
Oil
Panopticon
Perch seats
Pigeon spikes
‘Pigs ears’

Pink lights
Poor doors
Policeman
Privately-owned public space (POPs)
Railings
Roadblocks
Robot dogs
Rocky pavements
Segmented benches
Screen
Security guards
Sirens
Skatestoppers
Slanted benches
Sprinkler systems
Stones
Studs
Tradesman’s entrance
Urination deflectors
Ultrasonic noise
Walls