"Streets and their sidewalks, the main public spaces of a city, are its most vital organs. Think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets."

— Jane Jacobs [1]

‍

If you watch any Discover Ireland ad, you’ll probably see the image of some woolle- jumper-wearing musician singing on the street, their empty guitar case in front of them half full of change. The lively street full of people and music is the hallmark of how an Irish city is perceived. For some, when musicians and other performing artists take to the streets they can be an annoyance, but for most, they act as welcome entertainment. Streets like Grafton Street in Dublin and Shop Street in Galway have accepted the culture of busking and this art has become a real asset to the street and the city; art that can take place on any street and on any corner. To be an ideal busking location the street needs: a good amount of footfall; room for people to stand and listen; and for the musician and the crowd not to be interfering with the pedestrians going about their day. This article discusses two streets, one where the architecture of the city space works for buskers and the other against them.

‍

The streets discussed are O'Connell Street in Limerick city and Blackfriars Street in Waterford city. For both of the locations, I will compare busking during the Christmas period, and so the streets were busy with people. The weather was cold but not wet and, when I passed by the musicians, a decent number of people stopped to listen. With relatively similar situations, this article discusses how the architecture of the street influenced the relative success of the busk. 

‍

On O’Connell Street, Limerick city, a duo were playing their hearts out to the shoppers who had gathered around for some passing entertainment. Even though this was the widest section of footpath along the street, a bottleneck of pedestrians soon developed. The performers were huddled back as close to the windows of the display behind them as to minimise their impact on this traffic jam. At this point on the street, there was a group of people waiting for the traffic lights to change in their favour, shoppers making their way into the department store, a queue of commuters waiting for the bus, and the audience gathered around the musicians. An ill-placed rubbish bin narrowed the route further. This footpath was trying to do too much even before the buskers arrived. The pair were undoubtedly talented, and I’m sure their time on the street was well worth their while, but the architecture of this street was not working in their favour. 

‍

In Waterford city, Blackfriars Street connects John Roberts Square to City Square Shopping Centre. On this narrow street outside the now empty shop front of P. Larkin’s (a butcher that stopped selling meat in 1983), a band of four musicians were playing. This four-piece took up much more space on the street than the aforementioned duo while causing less of an impact on the route of the Christmas shoppers. Being a pedestrianised street, the people passing by had plenty of space to stop and listen without feeling like they were in the way of others. People could pause and take a minute to listen to one or two songs before emptying the contents of their coin wallets and carrying on with their day. This simple generosity of space afforded to pedestrians meant the street became much more than just a route between two popular retail spots. Instead, it allowed a few hopeful young musicians to improve the atmosphere of this corner of the city. Even the closed shop behind the buskers played its part in this successful performance, its shop front framing the musicians in the same way as a stage. 

‍

I am not suggesting O’Connell Street hardly works or that Blackfriars Street is working particularly hard solely on their ability to accommodate busking, but rather our streets have many secondary uses and the different ways people use a street and feel comfortable using a street is what makes them places of value. The streets of our cities are at their best when a musician is able to use the doorway as their stage and the passing public feel at ease enough to stop and enjoy the performance.