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Today's Urban Design Observation: One Man One Cup

A homeless cupboard

By Rain Noe - February 2, 2018

in Urbanism

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These are my coffee mugs. Some I got at colleges when I was on the lecture circuit. One I stole during the dotcom boom, others I got as gifts from clients when I was doing freelance industrial design. I've had these for years and none of them have much meaning to me. They hold my drinks, they're always there and I don't think about them, because they're mugs in a cupboard.

But if you're homeless, having a cup or a bottle is a big deal, particularly when your chief source of liquids is a municipal drinking fountain. And you need a place to store those items when they're not in use.

Here is a local homeless man's encampment under a scaffolding. I took the photos when he had left, presumably to go foraging.

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And I noticed that he's gotten his hands on a discarded plant and is using it to store his cup and lid.

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The cup might get crushed or lost if buried in his possessions. The plant keeps them up and out of harm's way.

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O Studio

6 years ago

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I thought the story would end when you gave the fellow all of your mugs...

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  O Studio
  
  6 years ago
  
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  Well said! My sort of humour.
  
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