In some cities, including Singapore, there is a strategy used by city councils to deter the homeless from sleeping on the streets.
It is known as ‘hostile architecture‘ and consists of uncomfortable additions to benches and chairs, meant to make sleeping on them difficult.
Here’s an example of it seen in Bedok.
But what if the area they sleep at is being used for banquets during the day? This prevents officials from installing such structures, and any other solutions could cost a considerable amount of money.
So a city in the state of Florida has resorted to a timeless solution — noise warfare using every toddler’s favourite song, Baby Shark.
The world-famous children’s song, along with another ditty named Raining Tacos, are played on loop at night within a park pavilion at West Palm Beach, Florida.
Through this unorthodox method, we’re sure that it will be hard to get ample rest in the vicinity of these ‘upbeat’ songs.
In case you’ve never heard the songs before, here they are:
Once more for good measure: Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.
Mummy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo. You know the drill.
As for, ‘It’s Raining Tacos‘, it’s a pretty catchy earworm too.
Only a parent would know the agony of having to hear their child sing Baby Shark for the 500th time of the day.
The area being targeted is a banquet facility which people can rent for events.
The city has decided that for paying customers, they should have a more pleasant experience that does not consist of tripping “over bodies” when the staff begin their set-up as early as 5am in the morning.
The fix is only temporary, however.
Once the city formalises operating hours for the facility, they will be able to enforce trespassing laws which would prevent the homeless from sleeping there.
While the Baby Shark song serves as an effective deterrent due to how repetitive the song is, the purpose is similar to hostile architecture. The problem is only being shifted elsewhere.
However, not all hope is lost — other solutions like job training are being rolled out to ensure that citizens of the city can secure employment, and by extension, a roof over their heads at night.
In the meantime, when do you think Baby Shark will fade out of relevance in Singapore?
We think the city’s next concern, may just be hordes of 2-year-olds swarming the area instead.
Featured image from YouTube.
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