Zero-sum versus positive-sum: how space design influences social behavior

Design is a social contract.

The secret to social change in Israel is not "raising awareness."

It’s architecture that takes the social being into account.

Architecture that creates a space where polite behavior is the most rewarding.

The supermarket: five shekels and one checkout

During my last visit to the country, I stood in front of a row of carts that required a five-shekel coin. Having just arrived from abroad, I didn’t have a shekel. One man agreed to a deal: I would transfer him five shekels via Bit, and he would give me his cart.

I reached the only functioning checkout. One man was using the checkout shelf as his personal "cart" – he was running back and forth while a massive line pushed in behind him. Tempers flared. "Get out of the country, you and your kind," he spat at me. The woman behind me whispered, "Don’t engage, he’s one of those criminals."

As he pulled out debit card after debit card to scrape together the purchase amount, I realized: this man didn’t have five shekels to spare for a cart.

It’s easy to say "that’s the ugly Israeli" and assume we’re moral snowflakes in a sea of disgust.

(There’s something remarkably Israeli about the very thought that we are somehow superior to our environment.)

But as an anthropologist in Denmark, I suggest we momentarily set aside Israeli narcissism and examine the situation from another angle.

Are the Danes angels? Not at all.

I’ve been here six winters, and let me update you – these are people with Viking blood who know what cruelty is.

The question: how to build space

The difference between Denmark and Israel lies in one question:

How do you create spaces where the most selfish choice of the individual aligns with the common good?

Zero-sum versus positive-sum

The public space in Israel is structured as a zero-sum game.

This is a situation where my gain must come at your loss. Think of a cake: if I take a big slice, you’ll have less left. If I stand comfortably in line, there won’t be room for you; if I ride on the sidewalk to avoid the road, I endanger you as a pedestrian.

We fight over limited resources – space, time, safety – and that’s what makes us aggressive.

We’re left with the most exhausting tool: "raising awareness." Signs, lectures, workshops, debates.

And when we’re all so aware of every social issue, we become anxious, opinionated, accusatory, and worried.

And above all, less pragmatic.

In Denmark, the model is a "positive-sum game." It’s called Architectural Nudging. The infrastructure is designed so that my gain is also your gain.

The disputes in Israeli supermarkets are a planning failure. The five shekels for the cart save the supermarket labor costs, but they create conflict in the space. And when there aren’t enough checkouts and no room for giant carts, people are forced to fight for a piece of floor.

In a Danish supermarket, the aisles are wide, the lines are built to accommodate people with carts, and there’s breathing room.

Bike paths

The same goes for bike paths.

In Israel, they paint a green line on the sidewalk to "raise awareness." In Denmark, the path is on a separate, smooth level, and the sidewalk is paved with stones that shake the ride. The selfish Viking rides on the bike path not because he’s "nice," but because he’s not a fool – it’s simply the most rewarding route.

Design is a social contract.

What the space demands

The difference between Israel and Denmark is not in the quality of the people, but in what the space demands of them.

In Israel, the space demands that you be alert, vigilant, and fight for your place.

In Denmark, the design frees you from the burden of the choice to "be nice." Its architecture places you within a physical reality where politeness is the easiest, most rewarding, and most logical path.