VIDEO: Unexpected Ways in Which the City is Controlling Our Every Move

If you live in a city you probably see that not all the cities are the same and that there are some things that even though they seem to make no sense whatsoever or are just insensitive to things actually make some sense.

Architects and urbanologists try to control us and keep us form what they consider to be bad and wrong in all sorts of interesting ways that you never would have expected and that you probably don’t even notice most of them time.

According to cracked.com, if you get a dude who grew up in rural Mississippi in a room with somebody who was born and raised in San Francisco, and you find that where you live has a lot to do with how you see the world.

You might think this is simply the difference in your neighbors, but it’s not; the physical layout of your town or city affects you. And these days, a lot of that stuff is done on purpose.

“Architects are trying to control your brain with building design” sounds like a headline you’d see on a conspiracy blog, right above something about chemtrails (thanks for the link, Uncle Steve!).

But it’s honestly not that hard to influence a person’s mind against their will — you would, for instance, feel weird about watching a porno in a room with a huge stained glass window in the shape of a cross.

Well, there’s a similar trick played when creating buildings, and all it takes is some carefully designed streets and windows.

Humans are simply more likely to conform to social norms if we think some unseen entity is watching us, and this effect is strongly incorporated in the architectural layout of many seemingly ordinary places.

Those large windows and airy landscaping aren’t just for letting the light in and keeping things nice and open.

They’re designed to create an environment where anyone could watch you on the street at all times, and there’s no place to hide.

Again, the element of constant surveillance is there: large windows, clear signage, and lighting all plot together to turn the street into a “you’re being watched, bitch” environment.

One of the first designs to take advantage of the phenomenon was for prisons, because of course it fucking was.

In the late 18th century, social theorist Jeremy Bentham designed the Panopticon, a round structure with a central, closed watchtower that could be manned by a single guard. The inmates, aware of the guard’s presence but unable to observe where and when he was peeking out of the tower, had no other option but to assume he was looking directly at them, all the time.

There was a social media outrage a few months ago when photos of anti-homeless spikes in front of a British residential building made the rounds.

Sure, nobody wants a bunch of vagrants piled up in front of their door, but putting wicked-looking spikes down to make it too uncomfortable to sleep?

But if you are temporarily penniless and with nowhere to sleep for a night, you’ll find lots of seemingly harmless design choices that, seemingly by pure coincidence, prevent you from finding any place to lie down.

For instance, a bench sounds like the best place to catch a little shuteye … until you notice there’s a strategically placed third armrest, preventing comfortable sleeping positions for all but the most dedicated contortionists.