The Olympics’ hostile architecture is a preview of things to come

A few days before the Olympics’ opening ceremony in July, a strange sight appeared on Paris’ graffiti-covered sidewalks: About 40 giant, Lego-like cement blocks were neatly arranged under the Pont de Stance in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers, which connects two of the Olympic venues, the Stade de France and the Parc des Nations.

The site was previously a homeless encampment, with around 100 people, mostly migrants, living in tents, until police arrived on July 17 and ordered everyone to leave as part of a sweep, with authorities loading homeless people, Roma, migrants and sex workers onto buses and transporting them to other cities, including Bordeaux and Toulouse.

Activists say authorities cleared the area, replacing the tents with immovable concrete blocks, erasing any idea that former residents might ever return.

Activists say the bricks are an example of hostile architecture, a term used to describe some of the most visible changes cities and businesses make to stop homeless people from loitering or sleeping on their property. “This is not new, but it intensifies in a very particular way during the Olympics,” said Antoine de Clercq, a member of the Medal Movement, an activist group that challenges how marginalized people are treated during the Olympics.

“We are not in support of encampments, squatters or slums,” de Klerk adds, “but to eradicate them we need to find alternative, long-term solutions.”

There are other examples of hostile architecture in Paris, such as picnic tables installed where people once slept, but the most controversial are the giant Lego-like blocks. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Jules Boykoff, a professor and former professional soccer player who studies the impact of the Olympics on marginalized communities. “Hostile architecture is usually more subtle,” he says. “Like, bus benches that bend and make it uncomfortable to sleep on.”