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.
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
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…
Guarantee it’s a PFAS type chemical.
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?
Hit it on a 45 degree angle along the horizontal plane and it will bounce onto the shoes of the fella next to you
You just invented a turn-based game to play with friends.
Just pee directly on to the floor then.
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.
How much does that useless paint cost??
as much as some subcontractors to get rich
This is another lie.
Beware of cartoon drawings promising big things. Because if they can’t show you the thing, it doesn’t exist.
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.
I’ll piss right on the ground, fuck it. Der Strom lässt sich nicht aufhalten!
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.
Just piss around a corner onto the floor. Why are people peeing on walls, anyway?
You make a good point. Pee on a Tree!
I feel like this is a shared, universal male experience… But peeing outside of a toilet, everything turns into a target. A tree, a rock, a wall. Hell, the toilet itself, a urinal especially, was already a target. I could be mistaken about how Universal that is… or you don’t have a penis and I don’t know how to properly explain myself on this one.
Reminds me of this scene from The Naked Gun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybpKmNN61rc
You know kung-fu?
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
Dunno why people think this is the worst solution. Don’t many of those people love to pee in streets, rather than bother to find toilets? This sounds like an excellent deterrent, and that it works shows that people needed comparative incentive to use the toilet.
Ever thrown a ball at a wall sideways instead of directly in front of you?
Ah, that would be a loophole.
I’d rather find toilets but when cities decide to remove them, all that’s left is walls.
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The problem I’ve found here is public toilets are few and far between, and then majority of them are paid. Didn’t have any coins on me yesterday, so couldn’t use either of the 2 public toilets I found…
