No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs

by Lezlie Lowe

Adults don't talk about the business of doing our business. We work on one assumption: the world of public bathrooms is problem- and politics-free. No Place To Go: Answering the Call of Nature in the Urban Jungle reveals the opposite is true.
No Place To Go is a toilet tour from London to San Francisco to Toronto and beyond. From pay potties to deserted alleyways, No Place To Go is a marriage of urbanism, social narrative, and pop culture that shows the ways -- momentous and mockable -- public bathrooms just don't work. Like, for the homeless, who, faced with no place to go sometimes literally take to the streets. (Ever heard of a municipal poop map?) For people with invisible disabilities, such as Crohn's disease, who stay home rather than risk soiling themselves on public transit routes. For girls who quit sports teams because they don't want to run to the edge of the pitch to pee. Celebrities like Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen have protested bathroom bills that will stomp on the rights of transpeople. And where was Hillary Clinton after she arrived back to the stage late after the first commercial break of the live-televised Democratic leadership debate in December 2015? Stuck in a queue for the women's bathroom.
Peel back the layers on public bathrooms and it's clear many more people want for good access than have it. Public bathroom access is about cities, society, design, movement, and equity. The real question is: Why are public toilets so crappy?

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Canada, History, Feminism, Disability, Health

220 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2018

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know that November 19th is World Toilet Day? It’s totally a coincidence that I’m writing my review today, but how appropriate is that?!

“No Place to Go” is an extremely interesting and thought-provoking look at the public toilet situation in Canada, the UK and the US. I found it particularly interesting because I’m a female with what at times feels like a smaller-than-average sized bladder. Female bathroom needs are different than male’s, and we take longer (not because we’re busy chatting… rather, we’re busy taking care of our physiological needs), which is one of the reasons there is usually a line up for the female restroom, but not the male’s. Take one guess who designs and builds most public bathrooms. But this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever attended a concert, movie, sporting event… or any public gathering… and had to line up for the bathroom. Even Hillary Clinton was a few minutes late returning to a televised 2016 presidential debate because she’d had to line up for so long to use the bathroom!

Besides the obvious need for a change in the ratio of male-to-female toilets, this book addresses many interesting topics. I never knew that most men’s bathrooms don’t have mirrors over the sinks. Now I know they don’t, and why. I also know the real purpose for that little shelf that is in some toilet cubicles, and the barriers faced by the many people who suffer from “invisible” bathroom issues.

Speaking as someone who never leaves the house without emptying my bladder because I never know when I’ll next see a decent toilet, this book was both informative and fun. It’s a good read even for you ironclad bladdered people (and perhaps an even more important read for you lucky souls, so you’ll know how the rest of us live!).

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Peel back the layers on public bathrooms and it's clear many more people want for good access than have it. Public bathroom access is about cities, society, design, movement, and equity."


NO PLACE TO GO: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs by Leslie Lowe is well written. The author did a lot of research and includes history, fascinating facts and data along with humour in this book about where we go in public from London to New York to Toronto to San Francisco.
Do you know why Hillary Clinton arrived back to the stage late after a commercial break during the live Democratic leadership debate in December 2015? She was stuck in a queue for the women's toilet.
3.6 rounded up 4 public stars ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, so it’s not just me. The “bladder leash” is real.

[Biljana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lezlie Lowe's No Place to Go is a well-researched and nicely written book about something that many of us fail to think about, until we are in need: the public bathroom.

I hadn't realized that I needed to read such a book, but it turns out that public bathrooms are something that have been shifted from the public to the private and this book does a great job of covering the history of this unfortunate transition. The issue is that "public" bathrooms in private buildings (office buildings, restaurants, coffee shops) are only open to those of us who are typical consumers of those areas. This leaves many people without, including those who are without a home, this who have chronic issues but don't want to buy a coffee, etc. And that discussion doesn't even bring into consideration all of the people in the world who don't use indoor bathrooms!

Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Coach House books for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for a review.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but the author's voice is SO annoying. She doesn't need to put in so many "clever" puns or one-liners. A few "gotta go" type quips in a 200-page book would have been fine, but this kind of stuff was put in a few times a page! Tolerable for a while, but I had to set it down every 30 pages or so because it was so annoying and unnecessary. I like a sense of humor in an author despite my penchant for academic books, but this was more than overkill.

[Victoria Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thoughful analysis of the treatment of the unthinkable is an essential rallying cry.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think that you will ever think of public toilets the same way after reading this book! I think that the author brings to light a lot of the issues that we face finding public restrooms and how we develop coping mechanisms since governments are not providing us with safe, clean places to go.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more of an extended magazine article than a real book. Its key argument is that even though public bathrooms are expensive to maintain, government should build more of them- not just to prevent homeless people from relieving themselves on the streets, but also because children and those who suffer from certain diseases need to relieve themselves frequently, and therefore must have ready access to bathrooms if they are to use city centers.

The book does address some issues I never really thought about. In particular:

*Lowe explains why women need more toilet space than men. Women take more time to urinate, must take off more clothes to do so, and are more likely to have to worry about children.

*She also points out that the trend has been in the wrong direction (at least in the cities she focuses on). Cities in the UK and Canada have actually been closing public bathrooms- partially to cut costs, and partially because of a fear that such bathrooms will attract drug users and other practitioners of illicit behavior. Although people with disabilities need bathrooms more, the cost of retrofitting restrooms to make them accessible to the disabled is another deterrent to construction and maintenance thereof.

*Politics gets in the way of bathroom construction- not just NIMBYism, but also the politics of city contracting. In the 1990s, New York officials wanted to contract with vendors who would build bathrooms and pay for it by selling advertising. But to get vendors to build bathrooms in low-density areas, they proposed to give one vendor a contract for the entire city- which led to disappointed bidders suing the city alleging favoritism, which led to the end of the project.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

In light of the decreased accessibility of public restrooms (you need to buy something to get the code, restrooms are for employees only, restrooms don't have changing tables for babies and parents, etc.) this book sounded very important. Especially in light of people being asked to leave or even being arrested for needing to use the bathroom in a business!

So I had been intrigued to see this slim book to see more about this general problem and maybe what we can do to address these needs (some cities, for example, have begun setting up public restrooms for anyone to use that are cleaned on a schedule to ensure sanitation and that they remain in working order, etc.). That is also not even to say people who are elderly, the disabled, the poor (who can't buy something), etc. and what to do (which Lowe does address).

But honestly? I thought the book was terrible. I'm really not for bathroom humor or puns and I thought, given the title and the marketing/blurbs that this would be a serious examination of the problem. And while the author covers a lot of information and ground, I just wasn't into the puns and humor. I actually didn't find this very readable and had hoped for more citations instead of a bibliography at the end.

But maybe it was just me. A lot of people thought the book was good and certainly for someone who wants more information it might not be a bad place to start. Borrow from the library.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was well done. I spent a lot of the book reflecting on how I'd always considered it my personal problem if I need to pee while I'm out. I feel guilty for drinking too much water and embarrassed that I didn't plan properly. She points out, from many angles, that it is normal to need a bathroom while you're in public, and makes a case that this should be a municipal service just like public trash cans. She does a really good job of noting all the people who have an especial need for public bathrooms (cab drivers, parents with small children, homeless people) and those who have specific needs within the bathroom (for instance, a shelf for changing an ostomy bag, which I knew nothing about!) and those who encounter extra difficulties accessing a bathroom (trans people, disabled people with an opposite-sex caregiver, the black men in Philadelphia who were arrested for using a bathroom in Starbucks). It never feels like she is ticking off boxes, just putting together a broad range of evidence to make her case. She does get gender essentialist when she is not specifically writing about trans people (i.e., "women" need X, it's just a biological fact), but she devote reasonable energy to writing about trans people specifically. I wish she'd had some sort of recommendations for design, particularly since the book seems to trail off with no conclusion.

[17CECO · Rating 4 out of 5]

is the goodreads title wrong? I hope so.

some nights taking the train to the end of the greenline in dc where my car was parked I felt like pee was gonna come out my ears. ended up having to go between cars b/c there weren't public toilets at the station. read this book b/c I've always been interested in public utilities and wondered if public transport was always hostile to ... human biology. turns out I had it far better than most, being & young dude. Lowe's book reminds us that ppl got all kinds of different bodies and gender identities and, so needs, re: public bathrooms. and that what's at stake in having public commodes (the excretory commons!) is the right to the city itself--as no public bathrooms often significantly impacts the ability to be in the city of women, caretakers, the disabled, the elderly, & POC while making the lives of the unhoused far worse. Depressing to confront, also, through Lowe's book that there is no public utility, however humble, immune to the forces of privatization and that privatization can lead to classist and/or racist provision--pay toilets, biased key-holding baristas, etc. But Lowe is an optimist (a municipalist at heart, really), who surveys possible solutions, many of which have been put into effective practice. I was particularly interested in the case of the Portland loos--with the city itself developing a design that balanced cost with the resolution of accessibility issues and selling it to other cities. (Interesting to consider a municipalist market of cities selling or exchanging enlightened public service designs defined by collaboration and the value of a just price). In this sense, the book sometimes become about how cities confront and solve seemingly small problems that have large implications on some stake-holder lives. One suspects that Lowe has faith that a just city involves many such small fixes that add up to a larger investment in providing broad access to public goods.

Should also reiterate that Lowe does an admirable job of considering access from multiple points: disability, gender, sexuality, race--the concerns of women, the concerns of trans folks, the experiences of POC. Her conclusion after such widely ranging study seems to be that it's tricky to provide access to all folks but there are a number of at least partial solutions out there. So what we need is design profusion, testing, listening, adjusting. Toilet profusion. This all seems well and good. But another party of me wishes she wasn't so sympathetic to TERFs :(

The book is heavy with research and written in an NPR / Wait Don't Tell Me style. Which is to say, it's not a hard read but that her humor can be...ah, uh...She DOES use the word shit. I just wish she used it more. There are other complaints about her humor in these reviews but no one mentions how good she is at pulling interview quotes, making the book a conversation between thinking, feeling ppl RE: this issue.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting book. Leslie Lowe's "No Place to Go" chronicles the history of the public restroom, and what a fascinating history it is. This should be your #1 (and #2) book on the subject of the public accommodation. Most of us don't think much, or at all, about the idea of public restrooms, using them sparingly, or not at all. But Lowe argues that we should think about them, and indeed, champion them.

Many will say that public restrooms are jokes. I heard a joke about urinals the other day, but it didn't make me laugh. I guess you had to be pee there. But Lowe says that the subject is no laughing matter. The city of London once suffered the Great Stink of 1858, in which there was so much human waste in the streets of the city that the stench was unbearable. Since then, and worldwide, there have never been enough public restrooms to accommodate the citizenry. And things are getting worse, not better...public restrooms are closing everywhere, as cities seek to cut costs.

Lowe states that being able to go to the restroom is a human right, and governments the world over must step up to fund decent public restrooms for all people. Otherwise, people out in the cities of the world have to hunt for a decent place to go. And that's just plain crappy.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a truly phenomenal book! I'd heard an interview with the author on the Irish Times Women's Podcast ( https://m.soundcloud.com/irishtimes-w... ), and I knew I wanted to read it, but by the time I managed to get a copy, the pandemic had hit and I just didn't have the mental or emotional wherewithal for reading nonfiction. I expected it to be bleak and dry, but when I finally started it a few days ago, imagine my delight when I discovered that it's funny, engaging, and weirdly uplifting. The tone of the writing is a major factor: straightforward, tongue-in-cheek, but also empathetic. I feel like everyone who doesn't think they need to read this book... needs to read this book.

[Laura Hiebenthal · Rating 4 out of 5]

No joke, this was a very interesting read. On average, a human goes to the bathroom 2,500 times a year, yet most of us hardly think about this basic human need. However, public bathrooms are disappearing. We are surrounded by bathrooms, yes, but how many of them have a barrier to access? Most of them. Buy a coffee or a tank of gas and you can use the facilities. Or perhaps you have to get a key or code from someone who might deem you as not acceptable to use that bathroom. This book made me realize that for many people finding access to a clean and safe bathroom can be a daily struggle. That is sad commentary on our society.

[Nancy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who thought that my first book of 2020 would be about public bathrooms? I sure didn't but there it is. Lezlie Lowe started this book after her own experiences searching for public bathrooms that were close and accessible to her as a new mother. Her journey led her to public bathroom and hygiene activists around the world and into the history of public restrooms - thank you ancient Rome!
While a serious issue Lowe writes with a smidgen of humour to help digest what is at times a unpleasant issue for many. I really enjoyed reading this and it sure was enlightening as well!

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takes on a really fascinating issue that one might not think of as an human rights issue, but Lowe makes a convincing argument that it absolutely should be: increased quantity of and access to public bathrooms. Like clean water and fresh air, the basic human need to relieve ourselves in clean and copiously available public facilities should be monitored and assured in communities. Examples such as the Philadelphia Starbucks incident and the evolvement of the Portland Loo make for compelling reading.

[Costa Voutsinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It captured my thoughts and public angst of the past 45 years, as someone with IBD-colitis/colostomy, or as caretaker of an elderly parent with dementia, or as a parent with 2 young boys, the book manages to describe the stark reality when leaving the home. The history of public washrooms is amazing and her research into the progress (or maybe regress) of urban planning's consideration of the toilet needs of the public is thorough and appreciated by the reader. Sadly, our world continues to ignore this basic need.

[Virginia Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Place To Go looks at the lack of public toilets from from London to Toronto and beyond. A combination of urbanism and social narrative, Lowe analyzes the reasons public toilets are disappearing - vandalism, cost, lack of responsibility - to the implications of their lack, for the homeless, people with disabilities, young parents, woman and just about everyone. Why are public toilets so crappy? There is no easy answer nor is their any easy answer to how to fix them, but the author makes clear that cities must find a way.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came upon this book at my public library and was very intrigued by the concept. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book. It's a richly detailed (and researched) look at how public restrooms often fail and/or frustrate us. I loved how the historical details were woven into contemporary issues regarding public amenities, urban planning, and the sociological underpinnings of who gets bathrooms and who doesn't.

[Danielle Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has a hamster bladder and a relatively recently potty trained child, public restrooms are an important part of my life.

This book provided a lot of insight into the history and politics, including gender and class inequality behind public restrooms. It was a fascinating deep dive into the lack of public facilities in our cities and the challenges in providing a dignified and safe space for everyone to go when they are out of their home (or don't have one to go to).

[Evan Þ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lowe points out very ably that public restrooms are a necessary part of infrastructure that makes many parts of civic life much more convenient. She attributes their general neglect to be an unfortunate consequence of our reluctance to talk about them in public.

She's quite aware of the problems with cleaning them, but she concludes that - nonetheless - it is a role city governments should be taking on for the good of the community.

[Sara Shocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid case for why public toilets matter and why there are not more of them (it's not cheap, it's a readily dismissed public health issue, and no one toilet/restroom will work for all people). I wish she'd discussed public toilets in, say, Tokyo as a counterpoint to Canada/the US/the UK.

MORE PUBLIC TOILETS!!

[marge sutcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kicks ass. A thoughtful and intersectional argument (and excellent debunking of various naysayers and hem-haws) told in a very compelling set of stories. A universal need treated like a luxury is insane behavior, but there’s a lot that can be done if we can treat public bathrooms as the essential services they are - everyone benefits!

[Julia]

This book gives a good insight into the necessity of public toilets, their functions and the politics of it all. A few too many puns for my taste, and not enough concrete steps that would facilitate real change. But an important book that gets its central message across: more public toilets would benefit us all.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well researched book. I learned quite a bit about public spaces and how all people are disadvantaged by a lack of public toliets.

As the author states in the book, all of us have toliet stories. The lowly toliet is an important piece of public infrastructure that should be more in the minds of the masses.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

All elected representatives of local governments should read this book. The author has unearthed much fascinating, little - known information about why public toilets are so scarce. The right to use a toilet when away from home should be universal.

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting look at public washrooms and the inequities between sexes. Women take longer to urinate (biologically), city planning failure to include adequate public bathrooms, etc. Top of mind with potty training my kid.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book and eye opening. I have my own issues with needing toilets but have always had access to ones that are in stores I am shopping at. Never thought about some of the things mentioned in here.

[Ali Safwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me the vocabulary and context for my biggest culture shock after moving to the west, the lack of public toilets. The so-called "third world" doesn't have any, so we imagine places like the US and Canada to have plenty, but in reality, there is really no place to go 💩

[Cassey · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the most interesting thing I've read this year.