A place for those who doesn't belong anywhere.
In this city, there is no abandoned houses. Even if there is, they are completely locked and doesn't allow anyone inside. It saddens me, for there is no place where the most deranged, eccentric, or lost would naturally gather. After all, I believe that all animals deserve to stay in their natural habitat, especially the wild animals. If there's no place for them to stay, then they will disguise themselves as normal humans and slowly bring chaos in society.
We need to acknowledge that they exist, that they deserve to be respected, and give them a place in this society. Just because they are outliers from extreme minorities doesn't mean they should be ignored and sacrificed for the greater good. In fact, I believe that even as outliers, they have significant impact in the inner workings of society, just as how the average mean can be so easily skewed by outliers within the data.
For that, I will build them an artificial abandoned house, one that has two floors and a rooftop. This facility will be significantly different from Visitor's Lodge, which is another facility designed to handle random wanderers and bored visitors, it will be also different from Social Rooms, which is another facility designed to initiate social interactions and relationships for the anxious and socially-disabled.
Indeed, this facility doesn't intend to change anyone, it's intended to accept anyone. This facility isn't for bored people looking for meaning, it's a place for wild animals and misunderstood strays who want to seek solitude and safety, maybe meet others similar to them amidst the loud and bustling noise of the city. Maybe they want a safe asylum from their abusive relationships. Maybe they're socially drained from all the drama happening in their life. Whatever the case, they are free to enjoy the beauty of solitude and silence in this place.
You know that feeling when you just want to be alone but not ignored or separated from society? That feeling when you just want to run away from everything but you don't know where to go? Then this place is for you, a place where no one will tell you what to do, a place where you can feel safe and cared for without needing the company of other people.
The first floor will be a large, open, empty space. There are lights, of course. Darkness simply breeds dark thoughts, dark alleys simply create rodents' nest. There will be a hidden airconditioner, that can automatically adjust its temperature to be not too cold nor too hot. There will be no pillars. However, there will be at least three elevated platforms that look like a stage, forming a low-angle arc from one adjacent corner to another.
This first floor shall serve as a gathering space if these people ever decide to gather or unite as one. They can do performances and speeches on the stage. They can create different groups, contests, and competitions. Or they can simply lie down anywhere and try to sleep like lost strays they are. Hmm it bothers me that some groups of people might take advantage of this. Perhaps I'll need a guard or something.
As always, there will be some mainstream people, the majority and the strong, who will try to conquer, oppress, and slave the weak. Such development is inevitable, it is precisely the reason why there are a lot of lost strays and wild animals without any place to stay. I believe that at some point, they will try to claim this entire facility as theirs, take advantage of it, and chase out everyone else who doesn't belong in their group. I cannot let this happen to my people.
Therefore, I will create a team of moderators, of people who will silently monitor the place while pretending to be another one of the strays. They will be assertive, confident, and tactful in their dealings with the people inside. As much as possible, they will not use force to kick out anyone, they will do their best to talk peacefully with anyone who tries to conquer the place for themselves. However, under no circumstances they can use their "authority", they have no authority either. The moderators do not also own this place, they are on the same level of other strays who goes there. This will be the first level of defense against invaders.
The rules will be simple:
The first rule is to stop any form of social groups that creates a sense of exclusion and elitism. The second rule stops anyone who tries to claim the place for themselves and disrupt others. The fourth rule is to prevent any formal organizations and businesses to take advantage of this place. Finally, the last rule is for any annoying people who tried to bypass the rules with stupid loopholes. It will be completely impossible to stop any social groups or couples from entering, so it's better to let them be as long as they follow the rules.
These rules will be either carved at the wall or posted somewhere out of reach. Whenever someone tries to break them, the moderators will peacefully try to stop them, or make them leave if they won't stop. If they still insist or if they hurt the moderators, bad things start happening, the second layer of defense is triggered. First, the lights begin to flicker, then the airconditioner stops. Second, the lights begin to flicker even faster. Third, other people and strays inside the facility will be annoyed that someone is breaking the rules, causing the lights to flicker, so they will team up to convince the other party to leave.
If they still won't leave, then the third and last layer of defense is finally activated. The lights would change color, revealing the infrared writing on the walls "the Admin is coming". All moderators then immediately leave the place and convince other people to leave as well. If they won't leave, then the moderators would leave on their own, leaving them behind. This should be enough to terrify other people. Yet if they still stood their ground and refuse to leave, then all the doors and gates would close one by one.
If they still won't leave, then they will see a monstrous figure coming out of the door to second floor, with armed security guards beside him. The security guards then drag the offenders outside and give them a warning, then the entire place is locked for at least an entire week before opening again. If they ever try to go inside again, the security guards will send them to police for the crime of illegal trespassing.
The second floor shall consist of multiple rooms without any lock. In the middle of the hallway, there will be drinking water as well as beef jerky dispenser that dispenses 3 beef jerkies per unique thumb fingerprint. At the end of the hallway will be clean toilet rooms, separated by gender. The entire place except the inside of the toilet rooms will have hidden cameras, from first floor to the rooftop.
The rooms in second floor will be soundproof rooms but they have no locks and anyone can enter, it's for open-door group meetings and clubs. There will be chairs and tables in the room but they're connected to the floor, so no one can move them or throw them. The temperature is also automatically regulated like in the first floor.
In the rooftop, there will be mounted telescopes that's directly connected to the wall, so no one can steal them. Some telescopes will be for watching the people in the city, some telescopes will be for stargazing. There will be moderators who are always in standby on the rooftop to prevent any bullying or harakiri, as always, they will be pretending to be civilians, ordinary strays that will step in whenever sheeps get real.
Ideally, the moderators will be strong old people and middle aged people who wants to enjoy the solitude provided by this abandoned house while they educate any irresponsible and annoying youngsters who ruins their peace. My imagination says an old man who reads newspapers on the rooftop and often takes a walk around the entire place.
Hm this artificial abandoned house seems to have gotten a little bigger and more complicated than expected. Unfortunately, this much is necessary to prevent any opportunists from taking advantage of this place and to stop anyone who tries to use this place as their criminal base. I want this place to be a home for the strays, a place for the abandoned and socially-disabled.
As much as possible, there will be no interference from anyone with ownership of this house. However, there will be a lot of surveillance for the sake of monitoring activities and descriptive experiments. If anyone searches around though, they shall find no cameras at all. This is so they won't change their behavior because they know that they will be observed. Thus, they can get the feeling that they can do whatever they want in the place as long as they follow the rules.
I heard some of my readers say that this will only isolate the strays even more, as it further divides them from the normal people. They say that it will be better to give them therapy or send them to Social Rooms to give them a chance to change and reconnect with society. I believe this is similar to the "illegal drugs argument", that illegal drugs should be prohibited at all costs.
As we already know, this is a lame argument because laws cannot prevent people from doing things in secret, and it only makes the illegal drugs more dangerous because they self-administer it in bad ways, with dirty equipment that gives them communicable diseases and overdose. It's better if they do it in a controlled environment with clean equipments, with professional doctors near them, so they would at least not overdose and die.
Likewise, this Artificial Abandoned House allows the hidden and secretive people of society to show up and have a place to stay without needing to hide in the underground and be corrupted in the darkness. Maybe they don't want to change or seek therapy unless they're understood and accepted, so this place is for them, who will accept them without trying to change or judge them. This shall be a bright, clean, and comfortable environment that will make them experience solitude in peace and find their own reasons to reconnect with society once again.
After all, those who don't feel the need to hide or run away anymore are more likely to change towards a healthier lifestyle.
"Even if you are different from everyone else, even if you don't belong anywhere, even if you cannot agree with anyone, you are still human — deserving of life and happiness."