Alleyways

 This year, I live in Bromley Hall, which is the tallest building in all of Athens. The deciding factor for me wanting to live in Bromley was a closeness to uptown Athens. I truly enjoy going to local coffee shops and grabbing a bite to eat at a cool restaurant off campus. One thing I did not factor in was the amount of alleyways I would be traversing if I wanted to get anywhere fast. My preferred one is right next to the Chipotle on Court Street; it leads straight into my favorite fast-casual “Mexican” chain from the front door of my building. It is not a terribly long alleyway, only running the width of one city block. However, when I walk it, especially at night, I do have this feeling of uneasiness, one that I very rarely get when walking in Athens. Sure theres empty beer bottles on the ground, but that’s just Athens. Why is this space so unnerving?

The Alleyway between Voigt Hall and Chipotle. Photo taken by Sean Michael.

    Alleyways are, at least in principle, an important aspect of city infrastructure. The back alley is where the unsightly aspects of city life tend to hide. It is where trash is collected and it is often where fire escapes reside. When most people think of alleyways, they think of the dark and dangerous narrow back roads of New York City where crime goes unreported. This is largely a misconception, not in the least bit because New York City has almost no alleyways. It is actually fairly easy to recognize this when in the city because unlike Chicago which has a plethora of alleyways, the trash in New York is on the street for the world to see. Evidence is also rather inconclusive on whether alleyways truly increase crime. So then why do we feel unsafe in these spaces?

The alleyway behind the Union connecting Bromley Hall and Chipotle. Photo taken by Sean Michael.

    A part of that answer is how alleyways are designed. In urban planning, perception of street safety is largely contingent on the principle of “eyes of the street.” This means that windows look over the street and there is no point where you feel like you're entirely invisible on the street. Any loud noise in an alley can be starling because no one except you and whatever else is in the alley can hear it. Alleys are narrow with buildings casting shadow over the walkway on both sides, at the same time they are desolate with less people walking than a normal street. In Athens, the buildings butting up against the alley largely do not have windows looking out to them, even the doors lack any semblance of watchfulness. Further, they often lack street light amplifying an unnerving feeling. Alleyways are not friendly to pedestrians.
    There is also a more subconscious reason why safety feels lacking in these spaces: racial connotations. In many major cities, alleyways and crime are often dog whistles for black residents nearby. Washington D.C illuminates this racial connotation. In comparison to white residents who most often lived in “street facing” residences, black DCers in the post civil war era were almost entirely confined to living in residences that opened up into DC’s back alleys. In the post WW2 suburban boom, as white residents fled the urban centers, alleyways and the cities they existed in became linked in the white mentality with black residents. Suburbanites also began to associate a real spike in crime that came as a result of white flight and urban disinvestment with Black Americans in cities rather than the policies they supported to maintain their power hegemony.
American society is still even today very racialized. Just as alleyways hide the unsightly infrastructure of cities, they also represent the spatial attitudes we hold about who belongs where.  

-Sean M.