Sleeping In Public

ChristopherAlexander pattern number 94 (a PatternLanguage) -- http://www.jacana.demon.co.uk/pattern/P94.htm or http://www.ozemail.com.au/~butter/pattern/ptn94.htm.

"It is a mark of success in a park, public lobby or a porch, when people can come there and fall asleep"

If we wanted to give this PatternLanguage a broader scope, we could say: "It is a mark of success in a society when people can come to a park, public lobby, or porch and fall asleep."

Whereas if you're naked, it's a sign of affluence (and security)... --AnonymousDonor

Places we have slept ...

Under the banyan tree in Lahina, Maui.
FolklifeFestival?, SeattleWashington
The floor of San Francisco Intl Airport during a run from Miami to see Magma in concert for the first and last time
In the lobby of a train station in Yugoslavia in 1989 (before the war).
Champs-Elysées in October of 2001. Double paranoic police cordon and bush roses ..
At a GWAR concert
In a mormon church parking lot somewhere off of I-15 in Southern Utah.
On the ground in a fenced concrete yard in front of a public school in the Bronx.
On the ground in a strip center parking lot in Islip, NY.
On a large rock beside the hydroelectric plant at Snoqualmie Falls, near SeattleWashington
In the lobby of a Dutch train station after getting completely soaked in a nightly four hour walk from a dance festival.
Under a tree in the middle of Bestor Plaza at Chautauqua, NY.

Personal observation: This is often considered taboo, a sign of vagrancy, in AngloSaxon? cultures. Not recommended in big North American cities. -- StevenBlack

In the town of Indialantic, Florida:

Sec. 10-24. Sleeping, camping in public place.: "No person shall sleep or stay overnight on the beach, causeway or other public place. (Code 1962, 20-38.1)"

Welcome to Columbus, Indiana:

9.16.050 Begging or sleeping in public places.": "It is unlawful for any person to be found [...] lying or sleeping in, along or upon any public street, alley, park or other public place, or in any building, warehouse, shed, railroad depot or railroad car, or in or about any yard, mill or factory in the city without having the permission of the owner or occupant thereof to so sleep or be in such place. (Prior code S: 18-18)"

But, in Austin Texas, "Judge rules Public Sleeping Ban UNCONSTITUTIONAL." -- http://projects.is.asu.edu/pipermail/hpn/2000-May/000743.html or http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/homeless/2000/msg00330.html

Austin must be going by a different constitution than the rest of the country.

I know you were joking, but that might be true. Since the judge was part of the state court system, it might be the state constitution they're talking about.

Actually, the judge said that arresting the sleepers violated their right to due process, which still doesn't make any sense.

A pleasant, secure place where people sometimes sleep in public is the Sydney Botanic Gardens on a warm day.

A overnight ticket queue for some big event is a place where sleeping in public would be tolerated but is usually impossible.

Example: Rose parade in Pasadena, California. That one's always a sleep-over for thousands of people without prepaid tickets for the stands. This year (Dec 2001), the police even officially recruited some of the campers to "watch for suspicious activity" (and report it via cell phone, I would assume).

Example: Wimbledon (as in tennis). There are cheap tickets to be had if you buy them in person on the day, so devotees queue for hours - the real hardcore for more than a day. Quite a lot of this time is spent sleeping (or being kept awake by the maniac driving up and down the road at 70 mph shouting 'WAKE UP! THE TENNIS HAS STARTED!').