Design Against Crime Research Centre

Is Graffiti a Criminal or Creative Practice?
A first multi-disciplinary seminar workshop, led by Marcus Willcocks for the Design Against Crime Research Centre (DACRC) of UAL and hosted at Elisava school of design in Barcelona, sought to generate a better understanding of how graffiti affects public space. The event was held in collaboration with Griffin Security, Transport for London and British Transport Police, seeking to address issues with graffiti on public transport.

Graffiti takes many forms. Whilst many people complain about 'tagging' some have a different response to stencil art and 'designed' sprays. To some graffiti can be seen as a sign of a 'tipping point' leading to lawlessness and is painted over by local councils and municipalities to prevent areas looking run down, while to others it can have a regenerative effect on an environment. The wider rationale concerns community safety/quality of life issues.

There is evidence that people's fear of crime is at times influenced by 'incivilities' such as litter and graffiti indicating lack of social control; and the theory of 'Broken Windows' goes further to claim that these indicators encourage further more serious offending and the retreat of the honest from the streets, in a spiral of decline. However the genres and form of the elements impacting these issues are rarely investigated at any level of detail, but rather more often are grouped together - for example "problems can include, graffiti, litter and vandalism".

The seminar sought to start to explore this and initiate a DADRC research focus on graffiti, as a grey area or 'dark side' of creativity that needs better understanding, and response, if government policy is to be effective and sustainable in the long term, in the UK and abroad.

BACKGROUND
The first event sought to discover what research information or leads could be generated by bringing together crime, design and transport professionals from London, stakeholders, from district councils in Barcelona and Catalan police, as well as graffiti practitioners, community workers, academics and professional and student designers from Barcelona. Open discussion and ideas sharing was aimed at highlighting different types of graffiti (for instance tags and stencils as street art) and the drivers and lifestyles that accompany the practice. Early on, the need to distinguish between types of practice, define terms and understand impact became clear as issues that need more investigation. This is reflected, for example, in the extremes in popularity that can be found between the work of street artists such as Banksy and the marks, scratches or 'tags', which are sometimes interpreted as a sgnifier of degrading environments or 'broken window syndrome'. The seminar sought to explore whether the perception that all types of graffiti constitute social decay and need removing because they frighten the public, is still valid as an account of public consensus, and whether or not some contexts require different approaches, including efforts to raise and inform public debate about whether graffiti is always to be considered as a crime.

Future research questions to be considered include:
* What are contemporary public perceptions of stencil art, tagging and other related practices in different cities?* How can distinctions be made more clearly between positive and negative creative practices in this area?
• What policies are relevant to private, semi public and public environments:
• Is graffiti a creative practice?
• Does graffiti, as a form of public art, have a role to play in regeneration activities and wayfinding?
• What are the positive and negative consequences of graffiti for individuals, neighbourhoods and communities?
• Are graffiti paint materials toxics?
• What are most effective forms of cleaning up and why?
• Can any graffiti practitioners be included to positive effect , rather than being criminalised for their actions? How?
• The value of designated graffiti areas.
• The values of graffiti assemblies.
• Do interventions lead to 'offender adaptations' including countermoves?
• What might the future of graffiti and its prevention be - and how can we design in anticipation? [new paints, paint delivery systems, paint-resistant/digesting surfaces, cleaning materials]. Cheap large flexible screens could lead to electronic graffiti walls..]

FUTURE
The purpose of forming a research cluster into graffiti will be to catalyse more learning and understanding in order to generate appropriate responses. DACRC will begin the lengthy process of engaging with diverse communities and inviting them to be part of the cluster before applying for funding to form a research cluster, led by Marcus Willcocks for DACRC with similar practitioners in New York, Amsterdam, Berlin as well as Barcelona and London to better understand issues at stake. Please contact Marcus Willcocks, if you are interested in joining this cluster.