walls.world

Walls of the World

The flow of refugees and migrants is becoming a hot topic and heated debate. And so is the building of walls to make sure ‘they’ (whomever they are) won’t come in. We needed to make a map out of this.

We felt like it would be interesting to get a quick and comprehensive overview of all the walls that are currently being built, or are already in operation, around the world.

We started to make a map of a handful of barriers that prevent us humans to move freely. With each wall you can find basic info of the wall and a link to an article we like. Our favorite wall the US-Mexico Border Barrier and it’s great detail we managed to get from an Open Street Map data set (♥︎ you Open Street Map contributors).

Detail of the US/Mexico Barrier with a photo and some amazing detail in the geometry of the wall

For now we’re going to put this project on ice for a bit because we do not yet know how to go forward. We thought it might perhaps be a good idea to partner up with another organisation such as an NGO, but thus far we’ve not really gotten anywhere on that, and drop us a line if you have an idea.

It would be great if we can attach more personal stories to each barrier. We would also love to create a community where people can help us develop this map by for example: trace barriers with openstreetmaps.org; share their knowledge about geopolitics and cartography; or team up with journalists.

Dealing with the differences in sizes of the map can cause some design problems.

So, if you have some ideas or contacts that can help us find our audience we would be much obliged.

Check out the map on walls.world