I contend that civility is built upon or helped by having public spaces that encourage strangers safely to view or pass by each other (and not necessarily interact) while they proceed on their own individualised quests.

My interest in safe cultural spaces for strangers began when I led a consultation for a museum in Israel after the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2001. The participants were community organisers representing Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, recent Russian and Ethiopian Jewish immigrants; and Arabs, both Israeli citizens and Palestinians. I asked if there were any cultural spaces still used by all groups. I was told the only remaining such space was the Zoo. When I asked why I was told the following:

Their responses have become a touchstone for my subsequent work. I understood the following lessons: if groups watch others and can build a narrative of commonality, people begin to trust each other. Each of the individuals or groups came on separate missions, fulfilled them, and left safely with no obligation for further involvement. Successfully transited, the visited site becomes also true; when a marketplace is bombed by a terrorist the damage lingers beyond the immediate physical damage and creates the aura of a publicly unsafe space for a period of time. a recommended location to one's neighbours – an endorsement that slowly spreads. The reverse is