Well demarcated Colombo neighbourhoods began to develop and expand specially during the British colonial era. Ever since, walls became part of private property separating private space from public space. As urbanisation intensified with its attendant social changes walls came into being where earlier there were no boundaries. The more turbulent and violent the adjacent public space became, the more fear the respective private space shows. The timeline and psychology of this phenomena is well...
more »Well demarcated Colombo neighbourhoods began to develop and expand specially during the British colonial era. Ever since, walls became part of private property separating private space from public space. As urbanisation intensified with its attendant social changes walls came into being where earlier there were no boundaries. The more turbulent and violent the adjacent public space became, the more fear the respective private space shows. The timeline and psychology of this phenomena is well manifested on the walls of the Colombo's old neighborhoods which display a layering of new on old, at times with still further reinforcements of barbed wire or broken glass.
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