Some things I prefer to keep private. Now I have all these pertinent questions running inside my head! Now I'm wondering how this began in cities? Are they oblivious to smells, people eating nearby, unsanitary conditions? What's behind the mentality of people relieving themselves wherever they want? For anyone to see? Was providing designated places to use the potty to eliminate people just going anywhere? What are hydrants for? Maybe someone else has some free time to provide some answers to these pressing questions? History buffs maybe?! Hand sanitizer anyone?!

Didn't mean it to read "eliminate people" though sometimes that may not be a bad idea. Just saying... Yes, grammarphobics I erred.

oh, dogmom you can never err on my thread, if it is too bad I will just put a ?, otherwise, I will defend to the death, because how could you possibly be worse than my brain burps?

print and nni just ewwww!

Ok, so this is part of an art installation right, please do not ask me the reasoning behind that, i have no idea. so in a culture that believes this is art, perhaps we should give a glass screen that is opaque, but certain times of days we offer free viewings to the ladies. upp, nope that won't work, I assume most of these guys would be the type to enjoy it no?

that is what i am asking dogmom. they say we are all equal, yet this is ok? why? i vote we are still getting a lot of lip service.

In the Medieval period when much of Europe and Great Britain was still moderately forested, you could tell you were getting close to a settlement of any size because of the incredible stench. The Louvre had crosses painted on the exterior walls to discourage people from urinating or defecating against its walls. Women "at court" wore dresses that were so heavy and voluminous that once they sat down at table, they would not get up and their "ladies in waiting" would handle the chamber pots while their mistresses relieved themselves during the banquet. Being a member of a "privy council" or "cabinet" meant that you were privileged enough to talk to your monarch while s/he pooped.

One of the problems in my city at the turn of the 20th century was trying to finally eliminate the overflow runoff of privies and middens running along the surface gutters and educating people to not let their kids play in it.

The squeamishness associated with no one wanting to be able to see, hear, or smell human elimination is almost completely a 20th century construct.

Yeah, judging by some latrines I saw at an ancient ruin, going to the bathroom in view of one another didn't use to be taboo. And these were sitting holes, not urinals. More ewwwww.

We don't have to go as far as ancient times..look at Sochi (winter Olympics

). Whoever thought that it was a good idea to have several toilets?

and to continue, these were the signs for the Sochi toilets...Can't figure out the last one,,no dancing kazachok?

Palimpsest, I knew there was a history lesson somewhere. Who would've thunk?

Printesa-got a laugh looking at the toilet chart posted at the Olympics!

havingfun-Maybe we don't have to be That equal?! Don't think I'm missing anything!

yeah, but dogm, is it also not equal to not force us to view it? to give us a vote to say no, you can not do that in my car park? or park, or house, or apt building or place of work, maybe even my leg? lol

There should be rules maybe, just like they did at Sochi..who reads them? not sure if they are that desperate to go in a parking lot:)

Maybe this should be on a ballet question?

isn't that what this is, or should we have a different one?

palimpset, in one way, i fully understand what you are saying, but it does bring up multiple dilemmas and questions for me. i have never before seen an active urinal used as art? And, as a woman, I question the advancements we are told we have made if men still have no problem seeing everything as a urinal, and yet women don't, and it appears men agree with that view point and appear to want to encourage it.

I am as ever, your perpetually expiring mind.

Oh, I happen to think that urinating in public is disgusting from a sanitation standpoint and I think that people who do it are extremely self-absorbed, much like people who litter rather than carrying their personal trash a block to throw it in a receptacle.

Just saw the full pic with the neon light on. Interesting choice of shape for the light. And that's all I'm going to say on that.

Yes, the neon light shape was intriguing for me, too:)

I still have giggle fits about my experience with a public restroom at a bus stop in Indonesia. The toilet on the bus was out of order after immense abuse of its capacity.....so I was happy when we made a stop, but I was so not prepared for what awaited me. One giant room. Many "cubicles" with walls about 2-3 ft high. No door. Facing each other. Squatting over a hole. Not a time to be shy.....

I wonder what the walls were for if they were facing each other?:)

Beats me. It was such a surreal experience. :-) I would have pulled my camera out to document the set-up, but there was nowhere to point it without being highly inappropriate :-)

was it mixed sex or all female? I have seen this on tv, but never in person. It is an odd thing, many things they put on tv, you get used to it, a little while later it is everywhere, but not the single bathroom deal. I do often see a single separate bathroom for disabled, of course rarely do i see disabled in it. mostly those who wish some alone time, which is normally smelly, then i have to figure my options. If i had known it was gonna be this way, I might not have volunteered. lol

All female! I don't know what I would have done if it had been mixed sex. Many parts of Indonesia are muslim and mixed sex therefore out of the question.

TV tends to desensitize people...they see something too often that it becomes normal. Toilets though are a different category..my husband would have liked to have each toilet in the house separate from the bathroom We have that in the master and now that we are finishing the basement I had to agree to the same setup. I don't know why some countries do this common bathroom thing...I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to go:)

Printessa, everyone knows that ladies go to the bathroom in pairs you just make sure you are not the odd man out. Ever see them playing eenie-meenie in the room? tehehe

that's true...I remember when I was in 1-4th grade, we always had to go in pairs, but then split..no eenie-meenie:)

Just today , DnaChicago published an article with analysis on Chicago's most ticketed pee-spots.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150824/wrigleyville/public-urination-hot-spots-puddle-near-cta-train-stops-bar-districts-map

123 such intense reporting. I am sure if they spent that much time studying other things, well the world would be a far more transparent place. Secondly, ewwwww, just gross!

So the new term for a bad smell or yellowy stain is, "It was like Addison Station!" lol

addison station!

What a bizarre yet interesting concept!

Ok, you have me, this expiring mind really wants to know, what is bizarre? obviously they just took something way too common and made it even more public. And what part do you find interesting the wall? the art? the urinal? the sad little plants? tehehe

Umm... Yeah like I would go behind a small bush before using this pink slab. I'm not a guy,but if I were I still wouldn't. I mean, dude, can't you hold it just a little longer?

Well since it is the middle of a car park, I am assuming that on a normal day there are lots of cars around, at least one of which is that person's car. therefore, I do not think he is interested in making it to a car. he already walked by a bunch to get there. Maybe it is the color pink that attracts them. maybe the running water. i guess we could just ponder this to death. We obviously find it ....somethings

EWWW!!! Where's the hose to clean that at the end of the day! Again EWWW!

And why for heavens sake is it Pink marble! Porous and we all know about "aim"!

There is water coming down the slab. Those horizontal bars are some pipes used as a drip

Ha, Ha , yes I assumed that! Was just being goofy :)

it is eww anyhow:)

Just waiting for someone to post the dilemma "Need help picking the right marble color for my outdoor urinal"

didn't you hear marble is out quartz is in. though maybe granite would be better here?

Maybe white subway tile? Oh wait, that's been done....remembering the NYC subway stations in the 70's. Yech.

Oh , thank you orange camera! I really needed that laugh!!!! :)

houzz should really be Ho as in HOHOHO. hehehe

Is there a place to at least wash your hands after??? This just confounds me .

I haven't seen one and I asked the same thing..I've seen people coming out of the toilet stall and not washing their hands:(

I'm sorry lyn, I do not know which confuses me more; a urinal in a parking lot, one made of matching pink marble, that it is considered art, or that you think they would care about washing their hands. Second thought, perhaps better not to wonder much more about this.

I think your right! Put me down as a proud prudish American!

Who are we kidding? Have you been in a parking structure that didn't smell like urine especially in the corners and stairwells? If we can keep the pee in the urinal I say Hooray!

I really believe you are asking too much l 1926. This is 2015, so this has gone what, 10,000 years or more? they worry we can't train cats! What hope do we have?