Hot take: The new park benches downtown are a perfect example of form over function

I was walking through Mill River Park yesterday and tried to sit on one of those new curved metal benches. They look cool from a distance, but the seat slopes forward so much you have to brace your feet the whole time! It's like they designed it to be a sculpture first and a place to rest second. Has anyone else found a public space with seating that's just plain uncomfortable to use?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadeyoung14d ago

My buddy Mark sat on one of those for maybe two minutes last week before he gave up. He said it felt like he was sliding off a weird metal slide and his back started to ache. We ended up just leaning against a tree instead. It seems like a total waste of good park space to put in seats nobody can actually use.

josephs2614d ago

The new bus stop benches downtown have the same problem, they're angled forward so you can't relax at all. It feels like cities are buying this stuff without anyone testing if it's actually comfortable. My back hurts just thinking about trying to sit through a whole lunch break on one. They design things to look modern or to stop people from sleeping on them, but forget regular folks just want to sit down.