Historical Context of Wall Construction

• Humankind builds walls for shelter, protection, privacy throughout history
• Past 70 years: barriers between countries doubled
• Current walls exceed numbers from WWII end and Cold War
• Growing up in Germany: Berlin Wall fall felt like introduction of barrier-free world
• Post-9/11: extreme rise in construction
• Since 9/11: wall construction doubled with ~30 new structures planned/built

Security vs. Feeling of Security

• Walls/fences built with security intentions: protection from other groups, crime, illegal trades
• Walls provide feeling of security ≠ real security
• Structures cannot actually protect, instead they separate
• Create "us vs them" mentality, establish enemy perception

Physical and Mental Wall Interconnection

• Physical walls create mental walls in people's heads
• Mental walls make people lose sight of commonalities with "other side"
• Mental walls can grow strong enough to encourage building/strengthening physical walls
• Constant cycle: physical walls empower mental walls, mental walls empower physical walls
• Cycle disrupted only when one part falls away

Berlin Wall Case Study

• During construction: hard to identify who wall faced - people identified as one
• No "us vs them" initially, no "others" concept
• During separation: both sides developed different identities
• Mental wall formed: created "us vs them" division
• 1989 wall fall: mental wall remained in people's heads
• Eastern Germans had to be reintegrated into own country
• Many still feel they never fully arrived despite not moving

Scientific Evidence of Mental Wall Effects

• 2005 University of Berlin study (15 years post-reunification):
  • Germans still believe cities on former wall's other side are further away than reality
  • Link between political attitude and distance estimation
  • More against reunification = estimated cities further away
  • Mental wall keeps other side cities "far away"
  • Higher/stronger mental wall = more difficult to reach

Young Generation Study Results

• Author repeated study with young Germans who grew up without wall
• Results: generation generally bad at geography (east and west)
• Improvement: never experienced physical wall, couldn't build mental wall initially
• Potential indication of future without mental wall dividing Germany
• Reality: one wall disappearing while billions of others constructed

Gated Communities Trend

• Global trend: rise of gated communities
• Same concept as countries but smaller scale
• Neighborhoods surrounded by walls/fences protecting citizens from other citizens
• Only difference: by choice
• Physical and mental effects same for people inside and outside
• Separating cities, neighborhoods, even playgrounds

Brussels School Case Study

School Setup

• Spring of last year: design project at two elementary schools in Brussels
• Both schools share entrance and schoolyard
• Both teach in Dutch
• One school: mainly Belgian children
• Other school: immigrant children
• Schools separated by walls and fences
• No interaction points except fence in schoolyard

Children's Behavior and Attitudes

• Children must stand at fence to talk to friends on other side
• Most children never get opportunity to make friends on other side
• School should be place for all children to come together and learn
• More diversity = more to learn
• School might be only time in life for establishing contact despite social differences
• Separating children during development makes integration extremely difficult/impossible

Community Acceptance

• Author seemed only one with problem with fence
• Most parents, teachers, children stopped seeing/questioning structure
• People favor the fence - "just how it is"
• Boy said wouldn't play with other side, but would if fence wasn't there
• Quickly added fence should stay because "other side is mean, never give back ball"
• Children from both sides say other side is mean because never give back ball
• Both sides dislike each other, regular arguments at fence
• Main reason people feel need for fence: protects children from each other/toys, prevents chaos

Escalation and School Response

• Children started crawling beneath fence to get ball back
• Schools' reaction: installed metal plates
• Now children climb over fence
• Unclear what came first: mental wall that grew strong enough to build physical fence, or fence that emphasizes social differences

Intervention Project

Author's Approach

• Goal: show both sides how much they have in common
• For children: easier because despite language differences (Dutch vs French/Turkish/Arabic mix), all speak universal language of play
• Desire to play stronger than supposed differences

Games Installation

• Installed different games at fence
• Turned fence into interface/common ground instead of barrier
• Children began drawing together, exchanging pencils, talking on phone
• Phones were great success - amazed they could hear other side through device

Parent Engagement Strategy

• Parents play big role in shaping children's everyday life and environment
• Needed to show parents commonalities with other side
• Challenge: parents speak different languages, work different jobs, different incomes, live in different social circles, different beliefs/cultures/values
• Author different in all these aspects too

Picture Exhibition Solution

• Chose not to convince parents directly
• Let children do the talking
• Designed picture exhibition on schoolyard showing children playing together through fence
• Asked people to write thoughts/ideas/wishes on big wooden boxes
• Labeled boxes with "what do you think"
• Many people wrote "yes" without specific question being asked
• When asked what they were answering: "yes the fence should go," "yes we want to play with other side"
• Pictures implied enough to answer unproposed question
• People saw absurdity of situation again, felt fence unnecessary
• No forced opinion from author

Results

• Exhibition showed two sides their similarities
• That day: no "us vs them," no "others"
• Mental wall started to crumble
• Breaking mental wall = long journey, more difficult than tearing down physical wall
• Must challenge opinions/beliefs, maybe admit own wrongs
• Brussels event was big step (taking generations in Germany)

Global Implications and Lessons

• Many examples worldwide telling same story as Brussels and Germany
• Enough examples to learn from, but still seek walls as solutions
• Walls cannot solve problems they're meant to address
• Walls don't fight root of problems, only reduce symptoms
• Next time planning to build wall or support wall building: remember real impact
• Simple structure hardly creates more security
• Affects people living with it daily
• People often share culture/values despite geographic borders
• Building one wall actually creates two walls
• Will take decades and generations to overcome