Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Placemaking

Here They Are — The Sad Benches Where No One Wants to Sit

CNTVsL8UcAAppOz
This lovely "place I don't want to sit" comes from Drew Ackermann in Gambrills, Maryland. His wife tested it out just for laughs.

Last week, Gracen Johnson over at Strong Towns introduced the phrase "places I don't want to sit" to describe the lousy, leftover public spaces where someone has plopped down a bench or two as an afterthought. The seating, in these cases, helps crystallize how unsalvageable our public realm becomes when everything else is planned around moving and storing cars. Who would actually want to sit there?

So Strong Towns and Streetsblog encouraged folks to Tweet their own examples at #PlacesIDontWantToSit. You all dug up some hilarious-but-sad places -- here are some of the lousiest ones.

This submission comes to us via Kansas City-based Tweeter The Pedestrian Path, who added the helpful white arrow to point out the sitting space:

Screen Shot 2015-08-28 at 9.51.31 AM

Here's one courtesy of yours truly. It shows the intersection of Carnegie and Ontario in Cleveland. The benches are on the left -- they're the Ohio Department of Transportation's attempt at placemaking. Try harder next time!

Screen Shot 2015-08-28 at 9.53.13 AM

Sometimes the mistake is as simple as having the bench face the wrong way, like this one in Decatur, Georgia, courtesy of Twitter account Philabikes. What were they thinking?

Screen Shot 2015-08-28 at 9.54.25 AM

Here's a lonely spot in downtown Phoenix via PTBrennan:

Photo: Phoenix New Times
Photo: Phoenix New Times
Photo: Phoenix New Times

For some reason, nobody's taking advantage of the scenery at this spot in Surrey, British Columbia, via RobertTWhite:

Screen Shot 2015-08-28 at 10.03.43 AM

Finally, here's the place that Gracen Johnson visited that helped inspire the whole thing. She says she actually did sit and eat lunch here, and "when you close your eyes, it kind of sounds like the ocean."

Screen Shot 2015-08-28 at 12.38.28 PM

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: The Massachusetts Company That Traded the Trash Truck For a Bike

This small worker-owned cooperative is reimagining how to do recycling, composting, yardwork and more — no diesel required.

August 29, 2025

Friday’s Deadly Headlines

Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels would bring immediate health benefits for hundreds of thousands of people.

August 29, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: The Menace of Prosperity

Daniel Wortel-London on his new book, "The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1875–1981."

August 28, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Are a Sneak Preview

Want to see what happens when a city makes major transit cuts? Just look at Philadelphia. It's not pretty.

August 28, 2025

What I’ve Learned From Getting Transit Wrong

"Advocacy isn’t about pretending you’ve always been right. It’s about learning, adapting, and bringing those lessons into the fight for better transit and better cities."

August 28, 2025
See all posts