Why Street Art in Public Space Kindles Communal Joy and Compassion [Balmy Alley San Francisco]

Nestled within the Mission District is an alley that contains the largest concentration of murals in San Francisco. When I visited Balmy Alley the first time, it was during the fall of last year. Across most of the country, the air was cooling down and the leaves were turning bright orange and yellow. In San Francisco, fall means an Indian Summer! It is the city's most dependably warm and sunny weather.

As I was walking within the neighborhood, I noticed an energy radiating from the colorful shopfronts, farmer's markets showcasing the fall bounty, and deliciously fragrant food vendors. Even within this vibrancy, the sensory abundance emitted by the colorful street art in Balmy Alley emerges beyond the backdrop of the neighborhood. Since the 1970's, most of the buildings along the alley have been decorated with a mural. Between 1984-1985, a significant wave of 27 murals featured a common theme celebrating indigenous Central American cultures in protest of the United State's intervention in Central America. Painting still continues regularly along the alley, introducing new murals about gentrification and police harassment. As opposed to city-scale commissions, artists are hired by the individual homeowners to freely contribute to the alley. A draft mural is reviewed and approved by the homeowner prior to commencing work. This activist art is protected by a community organization called Precita Eyes Mural Arts.

Balmy Alley functions as an alley that is part of a larger network of streets and blocks within the neighborhood. Homeowners along the alley are still able to access their garages. With the volume and speed of cars being very low, the alley also functions like a pedestrian street offering an intimate area that enables social play for children and people to rub shoulders in public. These simple interactions are some of the most essential kinds of social "glue" in our society. Public movement happens outdoors along shaded paths and streets. In addition to the functional access of garages, a number of entrances and stairs lead you directly from the homes to the street contributing to the liveliness of the alley.

The intimacy of the space is enhanced by the height of the surrounding buildings being equal to or greater than the width of the alley. Within the alley, we sense the one-to-two story, house-scale building forms lining the street. As you move down the street, you see pops of color peaking out from up above. This lifts us out of our day-to-day thoughts to admire them. It is a similar feeling to seeing hot air balloons floating in the sky. The surrounding buildings also offer a balance and rhythm along the alley with their cohesive architectural style. This maintains order and predictability within the alley, allowing the abundance of colorful murals to surprise us.

Research shows that people feel safe and comfortable in space that is partially enclosed or that seems bounded. This need for enclosure goes back to our primitive instincts. When we look for a place to sit outdoors, we almost always look for a tree to put our back against. We will rarely choose to sit exposed in the middle of an open space. Last week I was at an annual conference where the central theme was compassionate cities. As I sat back and thought about how compassion related to joyful, enclosed public spaces, I started to think that if an area and enclosure of a space does not enable an engaging pedestrian density, then how can we as a society be drawn together to experience communal joy? How can we empathize with people of other cultures, incomes, ages, and opportunities? How can we be empowered to lift others around us and feel the need to give and receive kindness? Our built environment should enable and reflect the values we wish to achieve and embody. Adding the joyful component of street art to enclosed public spaces allows us to celebrate cultures and significant moments in our community's history for generations.