The sociological concept of the "leisured indigent," introduced by Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, describes people who use public spaces without a commercial reason. These individuals, who are often homeless, show a form of urban agency that challenges modern ideas about work and social value. In traditional urban settings, the presence of the leisured indigent was an essential part of the "eyes on the street" model. This informal social oversight provided safety and continuity that managed institutions often fail to provide. However, modern urban planning and social service models have moved toward a system of bureaucratic control and separation.

The modern state often sees the sovereign occupant of the public square as a problem for the managed stability of the area. This shift is a major change from the historical social contract. While human rights have traditionally focused on legal status and voting, the current crisis of urban displacement requires a focus on material dignity. Modern societies often group all unhoused experiences into a single story of trauma and failure. This narrow view leads to the criminalization of people in public spaces through hostile architecture and strict zoning rules. By treating the leisured indigent as a social problem rather than a member of the community, institutions take away individual power.

A real solution to the crisis of homelessness requires the restoration of material dignity through shared responsibility and new infrastructure. The current institutional response often relies on large facilities that concentrate distress and take away the autonomy of residents. These environments are often more dangerous than the streets they are meant to replace. To fix this failure, a national strategy must include comfort stations and stewardship networks that bring individuals back into the daily life of neighborhoods. Success should be measured by the ability of people to maintain hygiene and find shelter without losing their civil rights or their status as free actors.

The experience of the leisured indigent also shows the tension between individual freedom and state-managed security. When a society puts the comfort of the consumer above the basic needs of the unhoused, it leads to social division. Turning away from visible suffering while benefiting from a shared economy is an ethical failure that hurts the system. Restoring the social contract requires the understanding that access to basic services is necessary for the exercise of all other freedoms. A strong community allows all members to use the public square with dignity, recognizing that the health of a city is measured by the visibility and power of its most vulnerable residents.

Analysis of data from: Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York : Vintage Books, [1992] [orig. 1961]