Our first activity was The Green Stain project, which brought to the attention of the residents the municipal plan to pave Highway 34 through their neighborhood, continued with The Hedgehog Route (the student Guy Eisner built a circular path in the neighborhood that presented stories about it at various places along the route) and the infrastructure for a giant maze, led to the creation of an integrated platform for the neighborhood artists and the students, and culminated in the production of the film Tearing Down the Wall, which convinced the Jerusalem Municipality to create an opening in the wall that it had built, which had blocked the access of the neighborhood children to a playground.
The art activism projects challenged the Jerusalem Municipality and achieved not only a change in policy toward the Katamonim/Gonnenim neighborhood, but led the Municipality to collaborate with the course at Bezalel to develop unique street libraries along the path of the Train Track Park. The outdoor libraries proved so popular among the residents of Katamonim/Gonnenim and the German Colony that we received a joint request from the Beit Safafa community council and the Jerusalem Municipality to plan and erect a street library in that Arab neighborhood as well, adjacent to Katamonim/Gonnenim.
The processes of planning and building the library in Beit Safafa were complex, lengthy and fascinating. A group of students worked for months with the group of residents of all ages from Beit Safafa and as a result of the ongoing dialogue a completely new style of library was planned, imbued with the spirit of the cooperation: A local welder built the library and together with the neighborhood children and youth, the students built flower boxes and created a floor decorated with arabesques which was painted on the pavement in front of the library.
