Callous Objects
Designs Against the Homeless
Published on 15. December 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
79 pages
978-1-5179-0440-1 (ISBN)
Description
Uncovering injustices built into our everyday surroundings
Callous Objects unearths cases in which cities push homeless people out of public spaces through a combination of policy and strategic design. Robert Rosenberger examines such commonplace devices as garbage cans, fences, signage, and benches-all of which reveal political agendas beneath the surface. Such objects have evolved, through a confluence of design and law, to be open to some uses and closed to others, but always capable of participating in collective ends on a large scale. Rosenberger brings together ideas from the philosophy of technology, social theory, and feminist epistemology to spotlight the widespread anti-homeless ideology built into our communities and enacted in law.
Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.
Callous Objects unearths cases in which cities push homeless people out of public spaces through a combination of policy and strategic design. Robert Rosenberger examines such commonplace devices as garbage cans, fences, signage, and benches-all of which reveal political agendas beneath the surface. Such objects have evolved, through a confluence of design and law, to be open to some uses and closed to others, but always capable of participating in collective ends on a large scale. Rosenberger brings together ideas from the philosophy of technology, social theory, and feminist epistemology to spotlight the widespread anti-homeless ideology built into our communities and enacted in law.
Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.
Reviews / Votes
"Callous Objects provides an incredibly clear and concise introduction to the key ideas in Science and Technology Studies that animate much of the current literature on homelessness and the built form. It is an essential reading for academics, both undergraduate and advanced scholars, and practitioners of policy, planning, and law."-Contemporary Political Theory"This short, vivid and novel book serves as a timely reminder that our public spaces are not experienced equally." -LSE Review of Books
"In this small-but-powerful book, Robert Rosenberger delves into the objects and laws that target the homeless. The book balances its philosophical bent with a hard look at how cities and governments counter a homeless presence." -Metropolis
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
17 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 178 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5179-0440-1 (9781517904401)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Robert Rosenberger is associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.