reimagine
Balcony in western modern architecture has its root from the Greek vernacular housing’s outside room, in the form of a terrace, flat roof, or solarium (Campbell, 2005). Modern European architecture in the 1900s adopted the balcony or open window as a means to treat tuberculosis. However, in modern times, balconies in metropolitan cities usually function as relaxational and recreational spaces. When the COVID-19 pandemic makes the government opt to close parks and trails, the balconies in highly-dense cities rebuild the connection between homes and households. A YouTube video shows that Wuhan residents in a gated community walk to their balconies, first chanting “Keep it up, Wuhan,” followed by singing the Chinese national anthem together (Run Runner, 2020). During the spring and summer of 2020, every day at 7 pm, New York City residents went to their balconies to clap, applaud, bang pots and pans, and play instruments to convey gratitude to frontline medical workers. People in Naples, Italy, hung “solidarity baskets” filled with food from their balconies to help feed the homeless on the street amidst the social distancing orders (Poggioli, 2020). By intensifying the activities on balconies from relaxation to socializing, the citizens appropriated and gave new use to them.
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Besides the functions of gathering and performing daily life, public spaces in the city have often been valorized as democratic spaces of congregating and political participation, where groups can vocalize their rights. A form of spatial activism appeared when the residents used balconies as a channel of democracy. Since January 23, residents in Wuhan were not allowed to leave their apartment for 45 days. During that period, all groceries and daily needs were delivered to the door by either the neighborhood committee or property management companies. Some residents were not happy that the property management company de facto monopolized the food market and charged high prices and delivered bad produce. On March 8, 2020, when an inspection team led by Sun Chunlan, Vice Premier of China and chief of China Coronavirus Task Force, arrived at a neighborhood in Wuhan, residents shouted “all of this is fake” from their balconies to Sun and other government officials expressing their anger (Guardian News, 2020). Through turning balconies into democratic spaces, the residents vocalized their rights to the public and government.
spring
