Conflict, ethno-national and social alike, has spatial expression. Conversely, spatial transformations can also affect conflict resolution processes, testifying to the important role of urban planning as a tool (Byrne, 2012; Stanley-Price, 2005). Nonetheless essential, top-down planning is not a remedy for all problems. It is necessary to have publics informed and sensitized enough to demand, reclaim and even fight for their right over space. In other words, civic awareness is a key factor that can and should be mobilized in participatory planning processes.
However, conflict is not inherent in societies. Urban partition, rather than being simply a result of escalation of conflict between opposing parties, is also a symptom of social pathogenesis. According to Calame and Charlesworth (2009), every city is established upon an ‘urban contract’ between the citizens and the city’s government according to which the citizens offer services in exchange for “positive conditions favoring development”, social opportunities and safety. When the city’s managers, hence the city, fail to fulfill these conditions, the part of society that feels threatened, assumes control, and violence is likely to erupt. Walls are then considered a ‘quick fix’ to lessen the violence. In this sense partition is a symptom of severe social breakdown.