Imagine storing all your personal belongings in a sixty-gallon plastic waste bin, similar to the kind that housed Americans put out on the curb every week for recycling and trash collection. In Los Angeles, trash bins are repurposed as storage containers for unhoused people to store their clothes, medicines, documents, and other valuables. Spaces of … Continue reading Homeless Service Spaces
What kinds of spaces do unhoused people occupy in Los Angeles? Continue reading Spatialities of Houselessness
An oxymoron, ‘long-term temporariness,’ explains how certain informal spaces are sustained for long periods of time when framed as ‘temporary.’ Temporariness is a condition of provisional existence. Labeling something temporary creates the effect of tolerance, of allowing certain concessions for activities that otherwise cannot be allowed on a permanent basis. By using building materials, and construction … Continue reading Long-term Temporariness
LOCATION How did you choose this location? “Por la comida, la gente viene a comer y mientras esperan la comida, unos 10 minutos, ellos me compran.” For the food, people come eat and while they wait for their food, some 10 minutes, they shop with me. A local street vendor likes the location because of … Continue reading The Architecture of Street Vending
