Nursing homes in Germany often build fake, fully functional-looking bus stops outside their facilities to safely wrangle dementia patients who wander off.

A closer look

Nursing homes in Germany often build fake, fully functional-looking bus stops outside their facilities to safely wrangle dementia patients who wander off. The patients, instinctively remembering how public transit works, will go to the bus stop and sit down to wait for a bus that is never going to arrive. Caregivers can then simply walk over, strike up a friendly conversation, and gently escort them back inside once they have forgotten why they were waiting. It is a brilliant, highly empathetic piece of urban design that uses our deeply ingrained, almost robotic submission to public transportation infrastructure to keep vulnerable people safe from wandering into actual traffic