In Germany, sometimes there's this weird tendency to patronize people just for the sake of it. So, instead of going for the obvious, reasonable solution that's beneficial for everyone involved an inferior and more expensive 'solution' is implemented that doesn't really solve the issue but merely punishes undesirable behaviour. While the streets will still smell like piss at least people can gloat over the wrongdoers having got their comeuppance.

Presumably, they don't want to spend the money on maintaining lots of public bathrooms, but instead want to see if putting enough constraints on people's solution-space will somehow incentivize someone else (e.g. businesses) to do so.

It's not just German.

See: homeless spikes vs homeless shelters.

Homeless spikes are an individual versus communal issue. Homelessness is a societal problem, but once society has failed and there are homeless people about, individual landlords don't want them sleeping around their buildings so they install spikes.

The bathroom situation in some parts of Europe does seem like something that could be addressed. When I'm wandering around a European city and find myself with a full bladder, I'm always relieved to find an outpost of American corporate imperialism such as a Starbucks or a McDonald's because---regardless of anything else they bring---at least they bring clean well-maintained public bathrooms.

Installing anti-homeless spikes is still a choice for punishment over viable positive alternatives such as planting a nice bush where you don't want people to lay down.

> When I'm wandering around a European city and find myself with a full bladder, I'm always relieved to find a Starbucks or a McDonald's

In the UK, walk into any pub and ask if you can please use the loo.

Cf. Greece.

Public urinals like these are all over Amsterdam: http://goo.gl/LbWxd4 you're rarely more than a couple of blocks away from one.

They're male-only, and just a metal spiral leading to a cement wall that you pee on, and a drain below that wall.

They're very simple & easy to maintain, and all you need to clean them is a pressure washer. Public urination is practically unknown with these around.

The canals also help a lot.

In my over four years in Amsterdam I've never seen anyone pee into the canals outside of queen's day (a day-long city-wide parade/giant party, for those who don't live here).

German cities are full of public urinals such as the ones you describe. The problem is that they are quickly soiled making them unappealing, even for the most drunk revellers. The only way the behaviour can be curbed is with big fines - it works in the UK for the most part.

Or maybe they could come up with an efficient way to clean the public urinals instead.

That is true but then your average drunk would still choose the path of least resistance which is usually the nearest bush, wall or tree. We are genetically wired to look for the easiest solution which would of course be peeing wherever we are when nature calls. The only thing that stops us from exhibiting this behaviour when sober is inhibition. When alcohol numbs our inhibitions and sense of risk we revert to our most primal selves and in some cases that means we piss in places we should not piss in.

Initial cost, liability, maintenance, abuse, cleanliness, oh the list can go on and on. Far too many people are pigs when its not their property.

Now I am waiting for someone to sue over damages to expensive shoes or clothing because of a building owner's use of the paint.

Still cheaper than Ultra Ever Dry on every wall. He coating dissipates due to weather and gravity after a month or ao anyway.

But it's a cool undercover advertisement for ultraever dry!

Undercover? I haven't seen such blatant advertising masquerading as news in years. The video in this article is clearly a commercial.

Yep. Pop up public toilets like these[1] are available during the night when this problem is the worst.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8iR3pgt37I

Does anyone know whether there actually aren't many public toilets or is the problem more that the kind of guys who will urinate in public also won't go very far out of their way to use a toilet?

As a pedestrian tourist with a frequent need to pee, in general there are very few public toilets in Western European cities. Bus stations and shopping malls are amongst the few reliable refuges.

Cost appears to be the reason. Plus presumably pursue from local businesses which feel they 'lose' custom if people can pee for free instead of having to pay for a coffee they don't want just to use the loo..

Where you can eat or drink, there are going to be toilets, you won't get a concession without them, besides for small snack bars. The issue is probably mostly caused by the way home, because outside of restaurants, bars and larger shops and malls there are indeed very few public toilets.