• Allero@lemmy.today
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      3 hours ago

      Because China is capitalist, despite being formally led by a communist party. It has private property on means of production, and it is defining Chinese economy just like any other capitalist one. Socialism, by definition, requires social ownership of means of production, which is not the case in China; the term was appropriated and wrongfully used by US and several other countries to define economies with more state control and/or social policies, but this is simply not what socialism is.

      Interestingly, China has entire ghost towns full of homes ready to accept people in - but, as in any capitalist economy, homes are seen as an investment, and state subsidies are low, pricing out the homeless. They have more than enough homes, they just chose to pursue a system that doesn’t make homes and homeless meet.

      • Lumidaub
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        13 hours ago

        The vents are still accessible though? And you have these nifty mannequins to hang your stuff?

        Edit: honest question, possibly unnecessary joke.

          • Lumidaub
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            12 hours ago

            I feel like we’re talking past each other. I’m wondering how the weird human-shaped things added on top of the vents constitute hostile architecture - how are they meant to to discourage people from sleeping there? This is me trying to learn, I’m very aware that sleeping on vents isn’t exactly comfortable but how do these things make it less so?

            • anachronist@midwest.social
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              9 hours ago

              You’d probably have to lie between them instead of just looking at a photo, to assess if it’s still possible.

              Clearly they were put there with the intention of making it difficult/uncomfortable to lie down on the subway vent. If they were installed incompetently that doesn’t make them unhostile though, it just makes them ineffective for their obviously intended purpose.

              • Lumidaub
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                11 hours ago

                Right? It looks like there was an attempt (gold star) at hostility but they still wanted it to look somewhat aesthetically pleasing and mostly forgot about the hostile part? Or maybe I’m just not seeing most of the hostile part, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.

                • spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works
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                  5 hours ago

                  Nah I think you got it. Veiling art as hostile architecture is fairly common so I think the artist lead took over and they forgot the intent of ruining someone’s ability to sleep haha

            • davel@lemmy.ml
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              12 hours ago

              how do these things make it less [comfortable]?

              You already answered your own question:

              weird human-shaped things added on top of the vents

              It’s hard to believe you’re not trolling.

              https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/unpleasant-design-hostile-architecture/

              I also came across some inventive designs that I haven’t seen elsewhere, such as metal silhouettes soldered on top of warm ventilation exhausts at a CTrain station (below), a place where you could consider camping for the night.

              Metal silhouettes prevent homeless people from sleeping over these CTrain grates in Calgary.

              • comfy@lemmy.ml
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                11 hours ago

                I really doubt they’re trolling, it’s a real question. A person can clearly fit between the gaps and sleep.

                It would block things like tents and mattresses, but it’s reasonable [edit: even if ignorant] to ask how it works if it doesn’t obstruct a sleeping person. For what it’s worth, in my city, it’s rare to see tents or even mattresses, usually just blankets and shopping carts.

                Try sleeping on them and report back to us.

                No need for that kind of talk, it’s as pointless as saying “Go there and prove you can’t sleep on them”.

              • Lumidaub
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                11 hours ago

                It’s hard to believe you’re not trolling.

                I swear I’m not. It’s entirely possible that I’m being slow, but I’m really just trying to understand so I can identify these things better in the future. Because I seriously don’t get it, there’s still plenty of room to lie down between them?

                • davel@lemmy.ml
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                  11 hours ago

                  I think you’re confusing real life homelessness with a cartoon of a drunk who lies down to sleep it off for the night.