In the streets of Hamburg, Germany, a new form of urban deterrent is turning public urination into an instant lesson in cause and effect. Known as “anti-pee paint,” this specialized nano-coating creates a superhydrophobic surface, repelling liquids so completely that anything touching it slides off with remarkable force. The result? Anyone attempting to relieve themselves on a treated wall experiences an immediate and unforgettable splash-back. The technology borrows from nature, mimicking the microscopic structure of a lotus leaf. Tiny ridges and air pockets prevent any liquid from adhering, meaning walls remain clean while offenders get an eye-opening consequence — all without the need for confrontation, fines, or patrols. It’s an ingenious blend of physics and human psychology: the paint doesn’t punish with authority, it punishes with instant feedback. First popularized in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district in 2015, this approach has since been trialed in other cities like London and San Francisco. While the coating is costly, city authorities note significant savings on cleaning and maintenance, and a marked decrease in repeat offenses. Beyond hygiene, it’s a striking example of how urban design and material science can work together to shape behavior. For engineers, urban planners, and city residents, anti-pee paint is both a marvel of nano-engineering and a lesson in poetic justice. The streets stay cleaner, the message is immediate, and the offender leaves with a story they won’t soon forget.
This is such a first world problem lol. There is so much vegetation in my underdeveloped country for people to pee in that this is practically unheard of.
Piss on an angle, got it.
If you’re not aiming for the corner where the wall meets the ground, what are you even doing in life?
This is another lie.
Beware of cartoon drawings promising big things. Because if they can’t show you the thing, it doesn’t exist.
Hit it on a 45 degree angle along the horizontal plane and it will bounce onto the shoes of the fella next to you
Anything to not build public washrooms
The problem is that public toilets need to be indestructible. The one near my home is constantly out of order because some asshole vandalized it. Restaurants, shops and delis only let customers use their restroom - probably for the same reason.
In Montréal all our major parks have washroom facilities and if they for some reason don’t there’s still gunna be a port-o-potty nearby. There should definitely be two near the beach but the point still stands that you can definitely have nice things, or at least something stopping the majority of public urination. And hell, I’m sure that we have issues with them here, too, but it’s a small price to pay to have a civilized city so whatever.
Longer term the city just needs to adopt any of the myriad studied ways homeless and poverty has been reduced in other places which will also reduce the danger to these things getting broken.
Back in my home country they had these washrooms that were basically giant urinals covered by these side walls so they would get hosed down but they were not for women.
I have seen places in Europe that pull out these portable urinal things and put them all over the entertainment district on Friday nights to prevent drunk dudes pissing all over and it seems to work well
It’s not that Hamburg doesn’t have public toilets, but Hamburg is known for the “Reeperbahn” - a street lined with bars (I think the American equivalent to it would be something like Bourbon Street in New Orleans?). People go there to get wasted off their asses and no matter how many public restrooms you put up there, they will piss wherever.
(There’s also an amazing documentary series about the Supermarket on that street and the characters that visit it)
Ah, The good old pennymarkt documentary. One of the most legendary German documentaries ever created.
Pee sideways at an angle? Pee on the floor?
How much does that useless paint cost?? I guess it’s cheaper than installing toilets, but I bet it won’t deter a single person from peeing.
Cities: “ugh, toilets are so expensive to maintain. Remove them.”
Cities: “everything smells like piss now :(”
If there is no toilets available, a wall or a bush does the trick just fine. I ain’t going to rupture my fucking bladder because some bean counter decided to count beans.
I’ll piss right on the ground, fuck it. Der Strom lässt sich nicht aufhalten!
Just pee directly on to the floor then.
That’s what we call my uncle’s wife who likes light green walls. We spell it different though.
New? Anti pee architecture has always been a thing, nanotech might be new but if you see diagonal wall attachments that’s what they are for
Mooie chemicals to leak onto the environment. This is really a pfas 2.0 waiting to happen
Yup, it’s fucking dumb and Its easily countered by peeing on the wall at an angle as well.
Or better yet, directly onto the ground beside the wall…
You know kung-fu?
This is hostile architecture. Build toilets instead.
They have toilets. People are just wretched.
Clearly not enough easily accessible toilets for people to not pee on the sides of buildings. If the problem is so big that you’re considering designing hydrophobic pisser punisher paint you clearly don’t have enough places for people to pee.
A lot of Europe charges to use them though, whoch i find weird. Imo they should be funded by public budgets the way libraries, school buses, roads etc are.
Like, of ya gotta pee, ya gotta pee. If you gotta pee and you don’t have any Euros on you, what else are you supposed to fucking do?? Literally what are your options at that point?
I’m sure some people would do this anyway but I suspect a lot of them can’t/won’t pay for a public toilet and aren’t close enough to a private one. It’s a UX issue
what am I supposed to do? tap my phone and pay .5 usd for the privilege of using a clean-ish toilet in the middle of the plaza. not that big of an issue.
Imo they should be funded by public budgets the way libraries, school buses, roads etc are.
They are, and many low traffic toilets are completely free.
However, in high traffic areas, some arguments they tend to give against this:
- Asking for a small amount of money deters a vandalism because people would only go in there to use the toilet. Not many people would pay to go and trash the place or put some tags in there.
- It’s an easy way to get extra money for maintenance
- In case of drug users it could help because some of them might already spend all their money on the drugs themselves thus making the small cost bothersome. (Although strong blue lights are a better deterrent because they hide your veins)
A lot of toilets in Europe in low traffic areas tend to be free. There’s also quite some open air urinals in heavy traffic areas that are free but they smell horrible.
There’s also some European countries that allow/tolerate public urination but limit it to non-privately owned natural bushes and require you to do it decently. (Not showing any genitals)
If you gotta pee and you don’t have any Euros on you, what else are you supposed to fucking do?? Literally what are your options at that point?
In places where they ask for money you can often plead your case and can enter without paying. Many places also ask for money without actually having somebody present or blocking your entry if you do not. I’ve seen a lot of little plates with cash just laying there without anybody being present.
Not so much in London, and usually you need to pay for the public ones.
Yeah, people forget that people is the reason we cannot have nice things.
“justice” lol
