Methodology

architecture of New York City was conducted. A review of authoritative literature revealed potential links between the rise of hostile architecture, and a number of socio-economic influences.

After focusing on hostile architecture based literature, which provided a general overview of the subject, the study then became more focused on New York City. In becoming more focused, city-specific influences for the phenomenon were identified, making the study more in-depth. This methodology allowed for the relevance of texts to be evaluated, which led to comparisons between possible influences, and how they have driven a rise in hostile architecture. In addition, similarities and differences were identified, which helped to create a conclusion. Much of this research was undertaken using peer-reviewed journal articles, alongside several well-cited, published books, to ensure that the information is reliable and accurate.

For this study, New York City was selected for several reasons. Firstly, the research conducted on hostile architecture points to the US as the country where the phenomenon was first identified and critiqued. Thus, it makes sense to focus on a city in the US, as it may be possible to learn more from the country which first identified how hostile architecture can be used to control a space. New York City was chosen specifically as it is the city where many of the initial ‘crime prevention’ theories, which led to the introduction of hostile architecture, were developed. In addition, much of the literature reviewed on hostile architecture looked at New York City as an example. Consequently, with the literature-review based methodology that was employed, a focus New York City seemed appropriate.

Where quantitative data was useful, graphs and findings from US government archives were compared with relevant literature. Any possible ‘cause and effect’ was investigated before subjects were further analysed. An example of this can be found in the graphs, and analysis, related to crime rates and homelessness in chapter 2. Crime based data was accessed through ‘Disaster Center’, an independent organisation which have compiled information from the FBI UCS Annual Crime Reports. Homelessnessbased data was taken from ‘Coalition for the homeless’, a charity which have graphically represented findings from the New York City Department of Homeless Services. This data can be considered reliable as it has been taken from official government archives, and represented by well-known organisations.

To form a general overview of the subject, a qualitative, desk-based study of research into the hostile