balcony tunes: looking after each other

Balcony tunes is a community-driven initiative aimed at reactivating and strengthening social infrastructures of care. The project emerged as a response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the need for new ways to connect and support one another. By identifying the needs and opportunities that neighbours could offer each other, the initiative sought to create a community network by designing a system that enabled neighbours to communicate and support each other in times of need.

Three streets in Pamplona’s old town were selected for their diverse pandemic experiences, providing a varied backdrop for understanding different community needs. The initiative began with a comprehensive survey to identify the existing needs and potential for mutual aid among the residents. The exercise then consisted in designing a system of visual and sound devices to facilitate communication across balconies and facades. This system was intended to be simple, using everyday objects and materials that could be easily assembled and adapted by residents. The design followed a DIY approach, ensuring that the network could grow organically over time without requiring centralised control. The only trick was to know the codes…!

One hundred kits were produced as samples with materials and instructions to be distributed during the last day of the workshop when a prototype was tested in each street. Yellow cleaning cloth ‘flags’ stencilled with a signalling eye were installed in balconies whose residents had agreed on being part of the network. In the street below an 8-metre plot with the elevations of both sides of the street graphically mapped the information collected during the survey to inform residents of the situation of their neighbours. At one point, three distinct 'tunes' were created to address the most prevalent needs among the residents: one for companionship, another for assistance, and the last for emergencies. These tunes were performed from different balconies using makeshift percussion 'instruments'—a pebble inside an empty tin can topped with a rubber balloon—much to the delight of the residents below. The kits didn’t last long before word started to spread.

The project stands as a testament to the power of grassroots creativity in addressing urban challenges and building resilient social structures. Today, the project lives on through the efforts of the local residents' association, which continues to maintain and expand the network.