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Rethinking the Value and Benefits of High Boundary Walls

Rethinking the Value and Benefits of High Boundary Walls

While they may make you feel safe and secure, high boundary walls around your home do not enhance safety and security but instead hamper it.
This was the prevailing sentiment at the City Without Walls public seminar hosted by the Urban Futures Centre (UFC) which is housed within the University’s Engineering and the Built Environment Faculty (EBE).

The public seminar, held at the Steve Biko Campus, was attended by members of the public, law enforcement officers, members of community policing forums and activists.

Professor Malcolm Wallis, the former Executive Dean of the Applied Sciences Faculty at DUT, Dr Jairam Reddy, Chair of the DUT Council, and Professor Theo Andrew, Executive Dean of the EBE, were also present at the seminar.
“Today is about engaging, not just as DUT, but creating a space in which society can engage as per our (DUT strategic plan) thread on community engagement,” said Prof Andrew.

Last night’s seminar was as a result of conversations, and ultimately a partnership, between the UFC, Blue Security, ADT Security, Dala: artarchitecture for social change, and the South African Police Services in trying to find answers to whether residential high boundary walls serve the purpose they are intended for, which is mainly safety.

The conversations and partnership started with Professor Monique Marks’, a Criminologist by training and Head of the UFC, “discomfort” with walls and her desire to explore this unease with the subject.

Speaking at the seminar last night, she said the project – which she stressed was not influenced by her personal choice to live without walls – hopes to at least raise in the public and scholarly imagination the idea that Durban could possibly be a city where walls are not a feature, especially in suburbs.

“The project comes from a personal and academic sensibility about walls as perhaps something which does not serve the purpose it’s intended for. In terms of being a criminologist, reading about walls also proved that there were a lot of questions around their role in terms of securitisation. I wanted to see if there are other people who agree that this is something that should be interrogated, so the conversations began,” she said.

In their attempt to present convincing evidence about whether walls are a hindrance or promoter of safety governance, the group looked at the Umbilo and Westville suburbs. Prof Marks described Umbilo as a fairly working class and lower middle class suburb where walls are not a strong characteristic, while Westville is typically high walled. With Blue Security dominating in Umbilo and ADT in Westville, it made sense for them to be added to the mix.

Prof Marks showed a picture of a house in Umbilo that has no boundary wall or fence. Interestingly, the house which is secured by Blue Security, has never experienced crime victimisation in over 30 years and the security company has never responded to any emergency situations linked to crime from the house.

The owner of the house is also comfortable with having no high walls around her house.“According to incident reports, despite Umbilo being seen as a rough neighborhood, the incidences of organised serious violent crime were lower in Umbilo than in Westville.

Now let me make it clear that that’s not only because of walls. There are other factors that have to be considered. Not only do walls go back to Middle Ages, they are seen as most criminologists as a hindrance to security and this is across the world,” she said.

Chris Overall, from eThekwini Municipality’s Safer Cities Department who has also served as a SAPS negotiator, referred to residences with high walls as a “policeman’s nightmare”, saying they create the potential for things to go horribly wrong during times of emergency such as a house break-ins. “You hear about policemen being shot in such situations.

High walls decrease visibility. The Umbilo house without walls would be a dream job (for a policeman). There are no dark corners, you literally have everything covered. If your house has a high wall, you can’t see your neighbors and who should or shouldn’t be at their house. Knowing your neighbor is understated,” said Overall.

Brian Jackson, Operations Manager at Blue Security, described walls as prisons. He said while walls may be aesthetically pleasing and home owners have them with privacy and safety in mind, they (home owners) need to look at security in a more practical way. “Suspects today aren’t worried about walls, statistics prove that. If a house has walls, as a patrol officer, I can’t see anything. We aren’t saying put down your walls, we are asking people to rethink this. From a reaction officer point of view, if I get to a wall higher than my height, I’ll struggle to get over it. High walls are a huge risk. If I get over, I could break my leg and what good am I to you injured? I’ll end up dead. During a robbery, time is of the essence,” he said.

Martin Kriel, East Coast Managing Director at ADT Security, said many people have the false perception that high walls create security. Sadly, he said, crime statistics show that more walled residences are targeted by criminals compared to those without them. “The criminal mind is about not being seen. For us to provide a service, a (high) wall is a problem. The walls are actually in our own minds. It’s the community that makes you feel safe. We need to take back the streets, and go back to a time when our children could play in the streets and we know they are safe,” said Kriel.

Doung Jahangeer, an Architect from Dala: artarchitecture for social change, who will assist in designing what a safe and open space could look like said in South Africa, said high walls are about fear. As an “island boy” who grew up without fences, coming to South Africa and seeing high walls, razor fences, electric fences, etc, left him feeling “disturbed”.

“We are imprisoning ourselves and dehumanising ourselves and our families. We need innovative solutions to shift mindsets. We need a strategy that’s about humanising ourselves through the other… umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” he said.

-Sinegugu Ndlovu

<i>Pictured</i>: Chris Overall from eThekwini Municipality’s Safer Cities Department; Doung Jahangeer, Architect from Dala: artarchitecture for social change, Martin Kriel, East Coast Managing Director at ADT Security; Professor Monique Marks, Criminologist and Head of the Urban Futures Centre (UFC) at DUT; Dr Jairam Reddy, DUT Chair of Council; Brian Jackson, Operations Manager at Blue Security and Professor Theo Andrew, Executive Dean of the Engineering and the Built Environment Faculty at DUT.

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